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Though Mayor Dave Cieslewicz declared spring two weeks
earlier this year, snowfall hit Madison during spring break and Sunday
afternoon, with even more snow forecast for this week, according to the
National Weather Service.

More than 100 inches of snow sets this winter?s snowfall
well over the 1978-79 record of 76.1 inches. About one inch is expected today.

It might have felt like spring in the past couple weeks, but
Jon Martin, University of Wisconsin atmospheric and ocean sciences department
chair, said getting snow after the equinox is not that uncommon, ?certainly not
unexpected or unusual.?

Madison has had a less than average snowy month of March, he
added. The city normally averages 3.5 inches of snow in April.

?I don?t consider the snow season really over until the 15th
of April,? Martin said. ?It?s rare to get any snow after that.?

But according to Edward Hopkins, climatologist at the
Wisconsin State Climatology Office, it is less and less likely to snow
beginning in April, at least since 1947.

?In 1947 on Memorial Day, there was a snowstorm in Madison
where between six and seven inches fell,? he said. ?It caused a lot of damage
to the trees in bloom.?

According to Hopkins, the weather pattern this season has
shown a very active storm track. The brunt of the storms has especially come
across southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, he said, adding Madison has
seen below-average temperatures most of the winter.

Hopkins said there is no exact explanation for the violent 2007-08
storm season.

?Things come together once in a while and become more
intense, and this just so happens to be one of those years,? he said.

The ability to make a long-range forecast, like an outlook
for the winter, is quite poor right now, according to Hopkins.

?Meteorologists do a pretty good job predicting weather a
day or two in advance,? Hopkins said. ?They were darn good for this particular
storm system.?