Sunday, February 12, 2006

Damn that Punxsutawney Phil!

The son-of-a-gun is correct only one-third of the time, so why has he been on the mark so far this year?

After one of the warmest Januarys on record, Phil came out of his hole on February 2nd, saw his shadow and promptly dove back to the protection of his hibernation haven while proclaiming six more weeks of winter.

Since then I’ve experienced some of the winter we’ve been missing. Last weekend there fell a light snow in the Adirondacks with much heavier lake effect just to the north of my cabin (a foot or more) and the temperatures there have dropped to seasonal or below (single digit lows and highs in the upper teens).

Now this weekend we get a real nor’easter here on the Atlantic Coast and New Jersey—all of New Jersey—sits right in the middle. There was virtually nothing on the roads and just a light dusting on the grassy areas when I went to sleep last night. I woke up at 6:15 AM this morning to find 10 inches or more on the ground and snow falling at the rate of 2-3 inches an hour!

The good news for New Jersey? The temperatures will climb into the 40s starting tomorrow and may reach 50 by the end of the week. Combined with some late-week rain showers, all this snow may be gone by Presidents’ Day.

There’s good news for the PA property too. It’s located in the middle of the state from east-to-west and lies near the New York border. This places it too far west to be affected by the coastal storms like this one and just far enough away from both Lake Erie and Lake Ontario so lake effect snows seldom reach. With a little warmer temperatures we should be good to break ground in March.

No comments: