The United States is set for an early Spring according to tradition, as forecasts say Groundhog Day will bring cloudy skies. Tradition holds that if Punxsutawney Phil sees its shadow when coming out on February 2 every year, then six more weeks of winter are set to strike. Held in Pennsylvania, the annual holiday has seen the groundhog come out of its burrow for more than 120 years.
And this year, America can breathe a sigh of relief as Phil is likely to not see his shadow.
Paul Pastelok, Accuweather Lead Long Range Forecaster/Senior Meteorologist, told Express.co.uk that in Punxsutawney, “it will be cold with high temperature 22-26 degrees, brisk’.
He said: “The morning can start in the lower teens, if there is no wind, then single digits.
“In the morning, the sky should be partly cloudy, so when the sun is coming up, there can be some sunshine. The rest of the day is partly sunny.”
In his forecast, Pastelok added: “There is a chance of snow, or mixed snow, sleet and freezing between February 4-5 as a storm approaches from the Southwest. Highs 25-30
“Cold February 6th and mainly dry. High temperatures in the 20s, lows in the single digits at night.
“Next storm approaches either late February 7th or on the 8th with rain or ice possible.
“Temperatures overall after the 9th turning milder, similar to the early to mid-January warm up.”
Groundhog Day is just a tradition, and data from the Stormfax Almanac has shown that Punxsutawney Phil is not very accurate when it comes to his forecasts.
The record keepers’ stats show that Phil’s six-week prognostications have been correct about 39 percent of the time.
Tim Roche, a meteorologist at Weather Underground, told Livescience.com that when Phil predicted a short winter by not seeing his shadow, “he was much more likely to be right”.
He noted: “Out of the 15 times that he didn’t see his shadow and predicted an early spring, he got it right seven times. That’s a 47 percent accuracy rate.”
It comes after an extreme January for the US, with unseasonably heavy rains in California and higher-than-average tornadoes across the south.
The Golden State saw multiple atmospheric rivers, bringing heavy rains, floods and mudslides, from December 31 to January 25, killing at least 22.
Andrew Schwartz, the lead scientist at the University of California, Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab, told CNN the rainfall could forecast a brutal wildfire season later this year.
“The dangerous side to this could be – and we’ve seen this in the past – is we get all this moisture, which increases the amount of spring growth around the state, and then all that growth dries out after we no longer get more moisture and becomes just additional fuels,” he said.
Meanwhile, 124 tornadoes have been confirmed in just one month, with three cracking the EF3 rating.
On the Enhanced Fujita scale, an EF3 rating indicates winds between 136mph to 165mph, along with “severe damage”.
The strongest tornado to touch down in the US so far was in Alabama, where the area of Old Kingston, Titus, Equality, Lake Martin and Penton were left ravaged by a twister hitting a maximum of 150mph.
Seven people died from the tornado, and a further 16 were injured.
