Lafayette Weather – Will The Ground Hog Or Nutria See His Shadow?

*** Update: Punxsutawney Phil did see his shadow despite today's Winter Storm Warning for that part of the country.

In today's modern world of weather satellites and Doppler radars it's hard to believe that somehow we still cling to a well worn tail of an overgrown rodent being able to foretell the weather forecast. Today is Groundhog Day. Most people only know this holiday as the subject of a rather quirky movie starring the always quirky Bill Murray.

The holiday itself is rather quirky. We are going to base a six weeks long range forecast on whether or not The Groundhog sees his shadow. Here in South Louisiana we focus more of our attention on another rodent, New Iberia's Pierre C. Shadeaux.  While the focus of the Pennsylvania groundhog is to forecast spring. Pierre C. Shadeaux has an even more important forecast to make.

If Pierre sees his shadow, according to legend, spring in Acadiana will be short lived and the heat of summer will arrive early. Personally I think Pierre has got it pretty easy. By the end of February most of us will be wearing shorts, cute co-eds will be laying out getting a tan before spring break, and many of us will wish we had taken our car's air conditioner in for service when it was cooler.

So let's take a gander and what we expect for Phil up in Pennsylvania and for Pierre in New Iberia.

Well in Phil's hometown of Punxsutawney PA they have a Winter Storm Warning. They could see 6 to 10 inches of snow. I am pretty sure ol' Phil aint gonna see much of nothing except flashbulbs, TV lights, and goofy old men in top hats. It's a wonder Phil doesn't bite the guy that picks him up and then poop all over him.

Meanwhile in Bouligny Plaza in New Iberia Pierre C. Shadeaux will poke his head out to crowds of well wishers, a TV crew or two, including one from the BBC, and local New Iberia dignitaries. The current forecast for New Iberia is clear, breezy and cool. If you add the sunshine to that then chances of seeing a shadow are pretty strong which means what we already know. It will begin to feel like summer long before summer actually arrives.

What does the National Weather Service say about today? Mostly sunny skies with a gusty breeze for most of the day. The afternoon high temperature will be in the upper 40's. Tonight it will be mostly clear with a low near 32 degrees. Tomorrow mostly sunny skies will again be prevalent and temperatures will warm into the low 50's