When Punxsutawney Phil popped up and saw his shadow on Feb. 2, a collective groan rippled across the Eastern United States, where freezing temperatures, ice and snow have cast a big chill for days.
Still another Arctic blast with snow and a deep freeze just arrived, along with another round of quips directed at meteorologists and scientists, challenging them to explain again how climate change works.
“We all hear it every winter when we get a cold outbreak, or when a snowstorm hits hard,” said Brian LaMarre, a meteorologist who founded Inspire Weather after retiring from the National Weather Service in 2025.
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This winter, these Arctic blasts seem relentless for much of the nation east of the Rockies. A winter storm and blast of polar air between Jan. 23 and 26 affected more than 30 states and claimed more than 120 lives. Then in quick succession, a storm dumped a blanket of snow over the Southeast that lingered for days as temperatures plunged again.
