World's First Chief Heat Officer's Tips

March will wrap up this week with a classic spring potpourri of weather, including more thunderstorms, strong winds, colder air, snow and even a few record highs.

Last week has had its share of active weather, ranging from flooding rain and severe thunderstorms in the South, to heavy snow in northern New Mexico, to damaging winds in the Great Lakes.

Let's step through four aspects of this week's weather we're keeping an eye on.

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Windy Start to the Week in Northeast

Low pressure will intensify as it heads into the Canadian Maritimes on Monday, leading to a round of strong winds over the Northeast. Some gusts may be strong enough to down tree limbs and knock out power in at least a few parts of the Northeast.

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This system will also manage to wring out some wet snow in parts of northern New England and upstate New York.

Next Front Brings High Winds and Dusts Mountain West

A vigorous Pacific cold front will sweep from the Rockies into the Plains Monday into Tuesday.

This won't be a moisture-rich system, but it is expected to dump some snow from the Washington and Oregon Cascades into the northern Rockies. Mainly light snow is expected in the high country of Colorado.

What this system lacks in moisture it won't lack in wind.

Strong wind gusts will accompany the front in the Pacific Northwest and will occur in the Rockies and adjacent Plains both ahead of and behind the front Monday and Tuesday.

The winds will also create a high fire danger in parts of the Plains and Midwest on Monday.

More Storms For South and April Fools' Snow in Northeast

By the middle of the week, the aforementioned cold front should reach the Great Lakes and Mississippi Valley.

Ahead of it, another round of soaking rain and thunderstorms is expected in parts of the South and East Tuesday night into Wednesday.

A widespread threat of severe storms is not expected in the South, but there could be some hail and localized damaging wind gusts in stronger thunderstorms. Portions of the Tennessee Valley could see localized flash flooding given the saturated soils from flooding over the weekend.

By Wednesday night and Thursday, low pressure could gain some strength along the front in the Northeast. This could wrap moisture into cold-enough air behind the front to generate some wet April Fools' Day snow from parts of the interior Northeast into the central Appalachians.

(MAPS: 7-Day U.S. Rain, Snow Forecasts)

Temperature Whiplash

What would spring be without the usual temperature roller coaster ride?

Highs in the 70s may surge as far north as the Dakotas on Monday.

Behind the cold front Tuesday, those warm, windswept 70s and 80s will be replaced by 30s and 40s.

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In the Northeast, a somewhat coolish Monday will be kicked out by 60s and a few 70s ahead of the next front around mid-week, before crashing again into the 30s and 40s late in the week.

That chillier air will also arrive in the South Wednesday into Thursday, including the Florida Peninsula, which may sizzle in record warmth until then. This South chill may have some staying power into Easter weekend.

The West will start chilly early in the week, but then warm up nicely late in the week before another Pacific Northwest cold front arrives by Easter weekend.

(MAPS: 10-Day U.S. Forecast Highs and Lows)

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.