Above: WEWS-TV video from the Groundhog Day ceremonies at Gobbler's Knob, Punxsutawney, PA, Feb. 2, 2012.
Punxsutawney Phil, the nation's foremost prognosticating groundhog, saw his shadow at Gobbler's Knob this morning. By ancient tradition, this means we're in for six more weeks of winter.
Six more weeks? It feels like it's already April. Temperatures have been downright balmy across the nation throughout most of this winter, upsetting the hibernating schedules of animals, tricking plants into blooming early, and dashing the hopes of skiers and snowmobilers.
The U.S. is in the midst of a freakish warm spell. But elsewhere on the globe, there's plenty of snow and cold to go around, the AP reports. The culprit: A rare combination of two weather patterns that are behaving strangely:
The reason is changes in Arctic winds that are redirecting snow and cold. Instead of dipping down low, the jet stream winds that normally bring cold and snow south got trapped up north. It's called the Arctic oscillation. Think of it as a cousin to the famous El Nino.
When the Arctic oscillation is in a positive phase, the winds spin fast in the Arctic keeping the cold north. But in the past few days, the Arctic oscillation turned negative, though not in its normal way, Halpert said. The cold jet stream dipped in Europe and Asia, but is still bottled up over North America.
That's because another weather phenomena, called the North Atlantic oscillation is playing oddball by staying positive and keeping the cold away from the rest of North America. About 90 percent of the time, the North Atlantic and Arctic oscillations are in synch, Halpert said. But not this time, so much of the United States is escaping the winter's worst.
But the weird weather could be a blessing for some local farmers. Another AP reporter spoke with several Schoharie County farmers, including Richard Ball of Schoharie Valley Farms, who said that the mild weather has allowed them to do much-needed repair work after the floods.
"We're OK. It's been an odd winter," said Ball, whose vegetable crops were flattened and who saw damage to about 200 acres due to Irene and Lee. "We've generally been able get a lot done with the weather. We healed our land."
Ball said the fields were smoothed, ruts and divots filled, debris removed and seeds set.
