Punxsutawney Phil's Big Day by Peter Gibbs
For most of us, February 2nd is just another ordinary day, but for Punxsutawney Phil, it’s his biggest day of the whole year. But why?
Punxsutawney Phil is the name of the Groundhog who is responsible for making the official Groundhog Day forecast, and has been doing so for the past 118 years.
According to the legend, if Punxsutawney Phil comes out of his burrow and sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter. If he doesn’t see his shadow, then winter is set to end, and spring will arrive early.
So what’s the outcome of this Groundhog Day likely to be?
Well, at the moment, there is an area of high pressure sitting across Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, and conditions at 7.30am local time (when Phil appears) are expected to be Cold, crisp and sunny with temperatures around -9C. Thus, according to the legend, this would suggest that winter is set to last for another six weeks.
But what are his human counterparts saying?
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which is the main forecasting centre for the USA produces seasonal predictions of temperature.
Their latest thoughts for February to March indicate that there are equal chances of temperatures being below or above average.
Despite high pressure bringing rather pleasant conditions for Punxsutawney Phil’s big day, across Central parts of the USA it is causing problems with air pollution.
The problems occur with high pressure, because the winds are light, resulting in less movement of air. This allows the pollution to build up if an area of high pressure is persistent.
Six states have issued health alerts as concentrations of pollution have risen to unhealthy levels.
With the area of high pressure not moving very far in the next few days, the air quality problems look set to continue.
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