2006_02_daff.jpgAs we all know by now, Staten Island Chuck, Gothamist's favorite rodent (he's bigger and cuter than a rat!), did not see his shadow yesterday morning, meaning an early spring. While Chuck was not seeing his shadow, Gothamist was photographing these snowdrops emerging from the ground in Morningside Park. By our recollection they were coming out a couple of weeks earlier than last year, which one might assume is another sign of an early spring. Now that this morning's rain has stopped we've warmed up to 62. Close to the record high of 64. Another sign of spring's imminent arrival?

Ah, but February with its measly 28 days is a cruel month. Plants react to the weather but they don't predict it and the predictive ability of fat woodchucks is pretty random. The path of the jet stream is shifting from a west-to-east pattern to a more loopy north-and-south circulation with eastern North American under the cold portion of the loop. This afternoon is going to be sunny and warm. Tomorrow will be warm with a good chance of a thunderstorm. Starting on Sunday we begin a cool down to more seasonable temperatures –highs around 40, lows in the upper 20s. Not bitterly cold, but it does look like our surreally warm weather will soon disappear.