Bloomington-Normal had received about 18 inches of snow this winter as of Feb. 19. (WJBC file photo)
By Eric Stock
LINCOLN – The groundhog predicted six more weeks of winter, and the weather experts' predictions aren't any rosier.
The start of meteorological spring March 1 likely won't look much like spring.
"The pattern doesn't seem to be wanting to change at all, as long as it continues to set up the way it is, we will continue to have below normal temperatures," National Weather Service meteorologist Lyle Barker said.
"There are some indications on the horizon we might say a break toward the middle of March, but a lot of our long-range computer models are indicating it's going to swing back to a cold pattern again by the time we get to the end of the month and into April."
Barker said March will likely be colder than usual just like winter, though it's not been much below average. The average temperature in Bloomington-Normal this winter is 29 degrees, below the average of 30. Most of the warmer days were in December and early January.
Bloomington-Normal has had slightly above average snowfall this year of 18 inches but less than half of last year's record total of 45.5 inches as of Feb. 19.
Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].
