PINE GROVE - Schuylkill County residents weren't happy about Grover the Groundhog's prediction Feb. 2 of six more weeks of winter, but he was the more accurate rodent.
Seven weeks later, snow is still on the ground in Schuylkill County and temperatures continue to be below normal.
"Temperatures have averaged a good 2 or 3 degrees below normal for March, which doesn't sound like much (but) it does have an effect climatically," Craig Evanego, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, State College, said Tuesday.
On Tuesday, high temperatures were just over 43 degrees with a low about 26 degrees, but Evenego said temperatures are usually in the low-50s by late March.
Pennsylvania's more famous weather-predicting groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, has gotten more attention than usual recently after an Ohio prosecutor filed a tongue-in-cheek indictment against Phil over his "prediction" of an early spring. The prosecutor, Mike Gmoser, dropped the charge Tuesday after Phil's handler offered to take the blame for the incorrect forecast.
Perhaps those most frustrated with the weather are spring athletes.
"When Mother Nature allows us to play, we will play," Scott Buffington, Schuylkill Haven Area athletic director and baseball coach, said Tuesday afternoon.
The Hurricanes' first game of the season was scheduled for March 22 at Millersburg, but it had to be postponed. The school also postponed its first softball game at home that day against Kutztown.
"It makes it a little tougher on everybody because it gets things backed up," Buffington said. "But that's the nature of the beast for sports in Pennsylvania. Nothing surprises you."
Both baseball and softball teams were also scheduled to play at Jim Thorpe on Tuesday, but the games will instead be played today in Schuylkill Haven.
Since practices started March 4, Buffington said the team has been using the football field instead of heading indoors.
"The turf has allowed us to go outside," Buffington said. "It has been chilly but we have only been inside once in that stretch."
The snowy start to the baseball season hasn't been typical over the last several years, Buffington said.
"Usually somewhere in the middle of the season by early May, we have our first postponements," Buffington said. "We usually get a stretch of good weather, then rain."
According to the NWS, temperatures will continue to stay in the 40s.
"Eventually, it is going to warm up," Evanego said. "This week, it probably isn't going to happen. We could see some 50-degree readings by the weekend but generally, it will be in the 40s during the week, which is still a little below normal temperature-wise. There will be another system moving in on Monday that will cool things back down for the middle part of next week, so even those 50-degree days will be short-lived."
Even if it only gets a little warmer outside for a few days, Buffington said the players are looking forward to it.
"It will be such a contrast to what we have been dealing with, it will really feel nice," Buffington said.
In April, Evanego believes spring will be in full swing.
"As April wears on, I think we will slowly start to turn the corner and it will start to feel like spring," Evangeo said. "Winter doesn't want to give up this year - without a fight at least."