PROVIDENCE – Better plan to stay bundled up, because the coming weeks could see some of the harshest winter weather in a quarter-century, according to AccuWeather Inc.
The private forecaster’s meteorologists predicted that January through March will feel colder than normal following an unusually balmy November and a frigid December when two snowstorms slammed Rhode Island.
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“It’ll be like the great winters of the ’60s and ’70s,” said Chief Meteorologist Joe Bastardi, chief meteorologist at State College, Pa.-based AccuWeather.
Bastardi said he did not anticipate temperatures dropping to the lows of 1982 or 1985. Rather, he expects the East Coast to see weather along the lines of the winter of 1977-78, when the legendary Blizzard of ’78 hit. Similar to this winter, during that time the United States east of the Rockies had a cold October followed by a warm November, with the cold returning in December.
“If it stays this cold for this long, will the groundhog even want to come out on Feb. 2?” AccuWeather Senior Vice President and Chief Meteorologist Elliot Abrams asked.
The prediction by AccuWeather differs slightly from one released by the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center.
The government forecasting service anticipates the southern half of the East Coast – starting in roughly the middle of New Jersey – will experience colder-than-usual temperatures. The Northeast will have an average winter, the government says.
Additional information is available at accuweather.com and cpc.noaa.gov.
