Calender Confirms The Groundhog and Farmer’s Alamanc – It’s Still Winter!

One town in Pennsylvania was the center of the universe today as one little animal came out of his hole and made his bold prediction for the season.  Bill Murray said it best in the movie Groundhog Day - "Does Phil feel lucky?"  Well apparently not so much as Puxatony Phil holds to what the calender and the Farmers' Almanac says - it's still winter!

Look at the calender and you know that the 1st day of spring arrives on March 20th.  The Vernal Equinox starts the season with increasing daylight, more warmth, plus the rebirth of flora and fauna.  The idea that the groundhog can help predict something arriving before its time defies all things against the atmospheric nature of things, but this winter defied the usual January winter for our area.

Looking around our area and you'll find that temperatures in January averaged about 5 degrees above normal in Philly and NYC.  Does not seem like that much, but that put us comfortably over the freezing mark and avoided significant snow for our area.

Ironically The Farmers' Almanac predicted correctly the trend for the January weather for our area.  The Almanac saw a "La Nina" pattern that brought a jet-stream that brought the temps in our area to be higher that usual.  Just look at the last day of the month as South Jersey was around 60.

Should The Almanac continues to be correct, then they will uphold Puxatony Phil's observation that winter still has 6 weeks left.  Farmers' Almanac is calling for normal temperatures for this month for the 1st half of the month (low 40s for a high).  The 2nd half of the month has the greatest threat of snow this season, as The Almanac is saying between the 20th and the 23rd that there is a storm system they predict could bring at least  12 inches of snow to much of the Mid-Atlantic region.

Once past this time, the snow chances decrease considerably.  March starts rough with the temps, but the warm up starts around St. Patrick's Day, but The Alamanac is calling for a very wet 2nd half of March.

The facts are that the idea of an early spring is a wonderful thought, and we have been very lucky so far this season without much in the snow department, but the calender does not lie.  This is still winter, and the threat of nasty weather is still a possibility.

The calender does not lie today either - it's Groundhog Day, and you should see Bill Murray's classic film at least once today - you won't see that written on any calender, but look on CMT at 9pm to catch this fun flick!