A few days ago, most weather prognosticators fell for it AGAIN..

A Snow storm! A winter event! A Nor’Easter!

If you did not notice, each and every event that was predicted days in advance since the beginning of this winter, at least here in Eastern Pennsylvania, did not play out very well..

Or at all.

We had one snow storm a few weeks ago that dropped a whopping 3 inches… A storm of so little importance in the scheme of things, but this winter was the most memorable!

The surprise snow squalls in late December were much more dangerous and intense than any ‘storm’ we had since..

This weekend is no different. There were hopeful rumors that a Groundhog Day snow even would blanket Punxsutawney and blend well with the celebrations that the town endures yearly ..

It will not.. as a matter of fact, just as every other storm did this year, it became a dud within hours of model predictions.. Each time either moves far to the West to ensure we have rain.. or way off the coast to ensure nothing. Even lake effect snows have been few and far between this year..

Mr. Heatmiser

Dateline New York state: Farmers and snow lovers have been hurt by upstate New York’s low-snow warm winter:

With a warm, rainy, and low-snow winter, just a small fraction of the state’s 10,000 miles of trails are open for business, mostly on Tug Hill and in the Adirondacks.
“It’s a tough year,” said Dom Jacangelo, executive director of the New York State Snowmobile Association. “Things can turn around quickly, but without a doubt this has been a difficult year.”
Ski areas are also limping along, spending money to make snow when the air is cold enough and hoping it lasts long enough for skiers to get to the slopes on the weekends.

Dateline Wisconsin: A warm winter has left outdoor activities on ice:

Experts say ice is never a hundred percent safe, but the mild conditions in January didn’t really do anything to help sure up the ice on Lake Winnebago.
“Not enough this year, unfortunately, but safety is number one,” says Jordan Vanderloop.
The lack of thick ice and somewhat questionable conditions on parts of Lake Winnebago led organizers to cancel the walk portion of Saturday’s Walk Across Lake Winnebago event. On shore activities will still take place.

New England warmth! Boston wonders if winter is over:

As it looks now, odds are, February 2020 will be another above-average temperature month, making it a clean sweep this winter (Dec, Jan, Feb).
Will we see more snow this winter? Yes, of course.
Will February bring a few winter “punches”? Most likely yes.
Will we make up for lost time and finish winter with a bang? Very unlikely.

Dateline Montana: Warm winer spell:

“We are prone to see these warm, dry spells,” says Joe Lester, Billings National Weather Service Meteorologist.

“We’ve been locked into this warm, weather pattern for a while but it is not anything that unprecedented or that unusual,” he adds.
Lester says in winter Montana typically bounces between cold and snowy and warm and dry. Friday and Saturday it will be dry, windy and warm with increased fire danger.

The history

The first official Groundhog Day celebration took place on February 2, 1887, in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

It was the brainchild of local newspaper editor Clymer Freas, who sold a group of businessmen and groundhog hunters—known collectively as the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club—on the idea.

THE CALL FOR THE ANIMATRONIC HOG

Super Bowl Sunday!! And Groundhog Day!

We can almost predict what the Hog should say.. an early spring. Heck! It never even turned into winter ! We WAS ROBBED!

But Phil will be dragged from his home early Sunday .. as he is every February 2 in Pennsylvania while polkas rage and college students tailgate.. This year, with the boring winter weather, the biggest news is that PETA has called for Phil to go and a robot hog to take over! Punxsutawney Groundhog Club Inner Circle President Bill Deeley treated that strange animatronic request seriously enough to state this to the Punxsutawney SPIRIT:

“I have not read the letter from PETA yet, but again, I would invite them to come to Punxsutawney and see how Phil is treated. As I’ve said in the past, Phil lives better than the average child in Western Pennsylvania.”
He added that in the winter, Phil sleeps in a warm environment, and in the summertime, he lives in an air-conditioned environment. Deeley also said that Phil is required by law by the United States Department of Agriculture to get a physical and that the average person who lives in the United States is not required to go to the doctor every year.

GROUNDHOG WEATHER!

This Sunday, when Phil is ripped to greet media and fans, it will be 42 degrees with a slight chance of rain and snow showers.. If Phil is fooled by the potential weather, he may see the shadow. The forecast:

A chance of rain and snow showers before 11am, then a slight chance of rain showers between 11am and 1pm. Cloudy, with a high near 42. West wind 8 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

By Monday the forecast in the town and much if the state is for temps to soar into the 50s.. If Phil predicts more winter, he’s most likely dead wrong!

Even I’d call for an animatronic if he sees his shadow!

THE EAST’S WARM WINTER ENDING

There’s hardly any ice on the Great Lakes when the bodies of water are typically one-quarter covered with ice by this point in the winter.

Seasonal snowfall in Boston, Massachusetts, is a little over half of where it should be by the end of January, and major cities to the south have seen even less snow.

Washington, D.C., hasn’t recorded a full inch of snow this season.

Greensboro, N.C., just entered its fifth-longest snowless streak on record, having recorded no measurable snow since December 10, 2018..

Official reporting stations in Atlanta, Miami, Charleston, S.C., Raleigh, N.C., and Washington, D.C., have all experienced a top-ten warmest winter on record through January 29, and there’s little indication that this trend will reverse through the middle of February and beyond..

We are running out of time for a good storm.. and even if it happens, it will be a fluke.

Chalk this winter up as …done… deal… warm..

But …

We have been here before

Climate change? …just a fluke? We have had warm winters before. As a matter of fact, the winter of 96-97 was just as warm.. back then here in PA we had maybe.. oh say .. one storm. And this after the blizzard of 93, the hundred + inches of 94, and the blizzard of 96..

This from the Pottsville REPUBLCIAN on March 12, 1997:

It was so warm and snow free that year that the Schuylkill Mall BON TON even ran an ad in the REPUBLICAN on the same day of the news article about the warmth putting all of its winter apparel on discount..