Seasonal outlook for when spring begins in Ohio, and a look at the rest of winter

Yahoo

31-01-2025

Ohioans may be catching early cases of spring fever. Unfortunately, the winter season isn't even halfway over.
There's a little under two months to go until the official end of the winter season and the onset of spring, promising warmer days, and for some, a brighter mood.
Stark County's winter has already packed a punch, as the Akron-Canton area has recorded more than 25 inches of snow, according to the National Weather Service. This is more than was recorded in the entirety of last season.
The first day of spring will be Thursday, March 20.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, Ohio has a chance to see unusually warm conditions from February through April. Its seasonal outlook casts a majority of the state within a 33% to 40% chance to observe above average temperatures during that time frame.
If you're itching for a look into the next few weeks of winter, you may not have to wait long.
Punxsutawney Phil will make his annual prediction this Sunday, Feb. 2. If the groundhog does not see his shadow, an early spring may be on the way. If he does, you may want to bundle up for six more weeks of winter.
Buckeye Chuck, the weather predicting groundhog from Ohio, is scheduled to make his prediction on Sunday, as well. The tradition comes from WMRN-AM, a radio station in Marion. He's been making the annual predictions since the 1970s.
Last season, the groundhog predicted an early spring. Supporters claim Buckeye Chuck has an accuracy rate of more than 75%, much higher than Punxsutawney Phil's reported rate of around 40%, according to the Marion Star.
The groundhog will make his prediction at the Marion County Fairgrounds Colosseum from 7 to 8 a.m., according to the station. The event will also be streamed on 1490-AM WMRN.
'Chuck has been studying weather patterns, jet stream anomalies, computer models, and napping in order to procure Ohio's most accurate springtime forecast,' Chris Kelly, the vice president of programming for iHeartMedia Marion, said in a prepared statement.
Buckeye Chuck, whose real name is Murray, will travel two hours from his home at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History to Marion. Murray serves as an animal ambassador at the museum when he's not participating in Groundhog Day.
When it comes time see his shadow, Jim Nemet, director of wildlife at the museum, said it's all up to Murray whether or not he participates.
The tradition (and later holiday) began as a Pennsylvania German custom in southeastern and central Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries, according to the National Weather Service.
The tradition of relying on hibernating animals for weather advice has its origins in ancient European weather lore, where a badger or sacred bear is the prognosticator as opposed to a groundhog. It also has its origins in Candlemas, an ancient Christian holiday where a clear sky was meant to indicate an early spring.
In the 1880s, a newspaper editor in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, used his platform to promote Punxsutawney Phil "to be the one and only official weather forecasting groundhog," a title now contested by Buckeye Chuck, who became the state's official weather-predicting groundhog in 1975.
The Columbus Dispatch contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: When does spring start? Here's the seasonal outlook for Ohio