Groundhog Day Storm: Weather experts have predicted a severe snow storm will affect 100 million people leading up to and on February 2
* The severe conditions will affect the South, Midwest and Northeast
* Big Apple deluged by snowiest January in history
A massive winter storm forecast for February 2 is set to adversely affect more than 100 million people weather exports reported today.
The Groundhog Day snowstorm is expected to hit the South, Midwest and Northeast of the country, building from early next week.
The storm is likely to severely impact ground travel, cancellation of flights and school closures according to AccuWeather.
Meteorologist Heather Buchman said: 'This is the type of storm that could shut down the region with high winds, plunging temperatures, ice, snow and a rapid freeze-up on roads'.
According to folklore, if a groundhog leaves its burrow on February 2 and its cloudy, this will signify that the end of winter is coming and he will leave the burrow.
However, if it is sunny on the day and the groundhog 'sees its shadow' then it will retreat back into its burrow and there will be another six weeks of winter.
This comes as normal service was resuming in north-eastern U.S. today after another deluge of snow in a winter giving little in the way of respite.
Buses in New York were running again after service was suspended yesterday and Wednesday and schools were reopening.
A winter-weary Northeast was getting back to normal early Friday after a powerful storm dumped a thick blanket of snow throughout the region.
Flights were also grounded as the region took a battering by a powerful storm and today schools in Philadelphia remained shut.
The blizzard stretched from the southern Appalachian Mountains to coastal Massachusetts.
In New York's Central Park, there were 19 inches of snow yesterday morning, beating the single-day record set in 1925, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.
Subway passengers stranded on Coney Island refused to get off the train because they had no other means of keeping warm.
'I said, 'I have no where to go, I'm not leaving,'' passenger Eva Mahoney told NY1. 'There's no way I'm gonna get home because I remember the (December) blizzard.'
The dumping gave New York the unenviable record of the snowiest January in history and a state of emergency was called across the city.
More than a foot of snow brought New York to a standstill today as it was revealed that the city has endured the snowiest January in its history.
A state of emergency was called across the city after a vast blanket of snow fell, while Washington D.C. and Boston were also brought to a standstill as most of the east coast was paralysed.
Snow in January and Feburary in the north east US is quite normal... Are we now considering snow storms as major earth changes!