Well, it was bright enough through the thick clouds on the East Coast, and according to officials, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, so we have six more weeks of winter ahead of us. Funny thing is we usually do, at least by the calendar. Whether it feels like winter is another thing. That kind of chill is not in the forecast anytime soon. I expect daytime highs this week to hover around 50 degrees, which is our average high for this time of the year. I don’t see any freezing weather, and lows may be close to our average low of 35 degrees. Light rain or showers are on tap today and in mid-week, but the week ahead appears more dry than wet: some showers one day, and then a day or two with partly sunny skies — unusual for February. The first four days of the month saw little in the way of rainfall. The mountains will get snow when any moisture falls, but not enough to strongly build the snowpack, which is about 75 percent of normal. It appeared last week that we might get some good snow this week, but that quickly evaporated. Experts predict that El Nino is developing and may control our weather later this year. Say goodbye to La Nina after its extended stay with us.

That quick-moving arctic air mass reached the Eastern Seaboard on Friday, with a minus-44-degree reading atop New Hampshire’s Mount Washington. Winds of over 100 mph brought the wind chill to minus 104 degrees there. On this date in 2019, we had lows in the low 20s and highs in the 30s, with enough snow to turn the ground white even in the lowlands. The Southern Washington coastline had snow-covered beaches, too. Winter is tricky.