By Brenna Angel
Lexington, KY – Punxsutawney Phil is calling for an early spring, and the famous groundhog may be on the right track. Kentucky climatologist Dr. Stuart Foster says with La Ni a circulating in the Pacific Ocean, we should have been experiencing mild weather this whole winter.
"That certainly hasn't materialized up to this point. And the culprit has been what people have been hearing about, this negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation that has brought cold air and storm systems with snow through the eastern part of the U.S. and certainly including Kentucky."
But Foster says La Ni a will continue through early spring, so the Commonwealth could experience warmer temperatures and above normal precipitation. That would benefit parts of western and central Kentucky, because despite this winter's snowfall, the state is still recovering from last summer's drought.