Didn’t that groundhog predict an early spring? Well I think he was just toying with us. According to the federal Climate Prediction Center, the cold weather in Central New York is going to continue through the first two weeks into March!
It won’t just be a little colder, it will likely be “much below normal temperatures” too! The National Weather Service in Buffalo is predicting high temperatures in the 20s and lows near 10 for next week. The normal temperatures for Upstate New York are 38/20 for March 1st rising to 43/25 by March 15th!
We can thank a dip in the jet stream for the colder than normal temperatures. According to Cornell Climatologist Mark Wysocki, the jet stream will dip so far south that cold air will cover much of the continental United States. The dip in the jet stream will also make us more susceptible to lake effect snow off the Great Lakes and to Nor’easters that travel up the Atlantic Coast bringing heavy wetter snow. Wonderful! Oh well, March usually comes in like a lion around Central New York every year. Looks like 2019 won’t be any different!