In the Midwest, the unofficial start to summer with barbecues seems a little far-fetched as people are still shoveling and having to clear snow off their grills before they even think about using them.

Kotzebue experienced one blizzard after another in March, and now with so much piled up and drifted snow, the community is struggling to dig out.

Two brothers, one dead and one experiencing hypothermia, were found about two miles from Pilot Station after their snowmachine became stuck in heavy snow during a storm.

"I was born and raised in Kotzebue and have been through many storms. This was one of the worst."

A late-season Pacific storm that brought damaging winds and more rain and snow to saturated California was blamed for at least two deaths.

Puddles on ice, slippery sidewalks and heavy wet snow berms are remnants of a three-day weather event that pummeled Nome and the region. According to UAF Climate Specialist Rick Thoman, “that’s the highest three day total on record for Nome in March in the past 116 years.

Safeway on Mill Bay Road is the only large grocery store on the island. And store management expected the barge to bypass Kodiak after its last visit, with a resupply stop scheduled ahead of this past weekend. But snowstorms and gusty weather, including hurricane-force winds, scuttled those plans. “In my entire career, I’ve never seen two successive bypasses,” said Mike Murray, the store director of Kodiak’s Safeway.

It has been some years since we have had a long storm. March 6 marks the 3rd day and there have been no jets or small planes flying.

The weekend was marked by cold sunny days and stunning aurora displays at night, but then the weather took another turn. By Tuesday morning, an east wind was howling and blowing snow sideways. The week started looking like a repeat of the last.

The storm ravaged much of the coast. In several parts of the country, the forces of nature have done damage and loose objects have flown through in the air.

Twenty people were rescued from a chairlift at the Hlíðarfjall ski area outside Akureyri. The lift stalled when the wire was blown off its spool by a strong blast of wind.