Punxsutawney Phil Predicts Spring Just Not Today

Punxsutawney Phil may have predicted that spring will be sprung in six weeks, I'm certain people in places like Chicago were hoping Phil could maybe rush things up a bit.

A winter blizzard of historic proportions stranded hundreds of drivers for up to 12 hours overnight on the city's Lakeshore thoroughfare and giving many Chicago schoolchildren their first ever snow day.

Chicago's O'Hare International Airport received a record-breaking 19 1/2 inches of snow, according to the service.

“Two-thirds of the country was affected by the storm,” said Jeff Masters, co-founder of Weather Underground Inc. in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “As far as Chicago goes, they have never had this amount of snow with this much wind.”

A mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain blanketed 30 states and is now sweeping up into the U.S. Northeast.

In New York City the storm glazed the streets with ice and it shut schools and curtailed rail services across the U.S.

In Massachusetts, a number of roofs collapsed under the weight of rain-soaked snow, including the roof of a large commercial building in the town of Easton, according to fire captain David Beals. Up to 100 employees were evacuated prior to the collapse, he said. There were no injuries reported.

Here in Georgia, we were able to dodge this latest storm. We are having some high wind warnings and rain over the past few days but I'll take that over the snow.

So Phil, could you please call in some favors and ask Spring to come early?