Happy Groundhog Day! As I wrote my column late Monday afternoon, I had no idea of course just what would be the official prediction by Punxsutawney Phil. But regardless of that outcome, we still have about seven more weeks of winter, according to the calendar.
So whether he predicts six more weeks of winter weather or, if there’s no shadow, the country can look forward to an early spring, it will still be winter. The latest forecast I looked at indicated it may be overcast this morning, so no shadow. My gut feeling is that we will have an early spring-like weather pattern setting up, with warmer than average temperatures. Time will tell. Go Phil!
Interesting enough, Groundhog Day ties in with the European celebration of Candlemas, which is the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. As far as Phil’s accuracy, it may match up with my ability in forecasting by throwing darts and hitting the bull’s-eye. Fifty-fifty. Okay, maybe I need some practice. It’s one of those things that is all for fun, along with the woolly bears and a myriad of other folklore.
I can tell you with 100 percent accuracy that January was a wet month with 7.10 inches in the Vancouver rain bucket, 1.60 inches above average. The average mean temperature was just about normal at 41.4 degrees, only .2 degrees below average. Temperatures ranged from a low of 26 degrees on Jan. 3 to a high of 58 degrees on the 28th.
