Phil Saw His Shadow: Six More Weeks of…?

…clouds and drizzle?

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this morning, meaning there will be six more weeks of winter, but does this apply to the nation as a whole? Not exactly. My dog didn’t see her shadow this morning and she has never been wrong, so get out those lawn mowers, folks. Spring is coming early this year!

As all of us cold and snow lovers know, winter has been pretty much absent here in the Northwest lowlands and looking at long range projections that will continue.

Accuweather meteorologists are siding with Phil and predicting six more weeks of winter for the east coast and a mild, wet start to spring along the west coast. And as much as it pains me to say it, I agree with them.

You see, our winter lately has been like a movie I saw this weekend. It started off with a bang (heavy, torrential rains and mountain snows, severe arctic cold, spotty lowland snow) but abruptly lost all its magic. And I mean REALLY abruptly (I bet you’re wondering what movie I’m talking about 😉 )

Did you know January didn’t feature a single below normal temperature day OR night? It was a complete and utter blowtorch. I certainly underestimated this El Nino, but at least I wasn’t alone. Virtually every weather forecast out there called for a much warmer and drier than normal winter, whereas my forecast called for an average (cold first half, warm second half) winter with above average precipitation.

So I suppose as cute and cuddly as Lil’ Phil is, my dog may just have him beat. At least for the west coast 😉

Matthew Leach

Forecasting Kitsap

Questions? Comments? E-mail me at: forecastingkitsap@live.com