BY GINA G. SCALA

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Early February weather in New Jersey is about as predictable as any other month of the year in the Garden State. Sometimes, it’s so cold your tongue could freeze to a metal poll (think Christmas Story) and sometimes warm enough to trade snow boots for flip flops; well that might be an exaggeration - more like heavy-sweater weather.

The point is Farmers’ Almanac’s prediction that a heavy winter storm is in the making for the 48th Super Bowl Feb. 2, 2014 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. should come as a surprise to no one.

In fact, the Farmers' Alamanac predicts there will be a bitterly cold winter for those in the Northeast.

“It really looks like the Super Bowl is may be the Storm Bowl,” Sandi Duncan, managing editor of the 1977-year-old publication, said. “We’re using a very strong four-letter word to describe this winter, which is C-O-L-D. It’s going to be very cold.”

If Eli Manning and the Giants could beat the Green Bay Packers in subzero weather at Lambeau Field on their way to trouncing the New England Patriots’ hopes of a perfect season, well, the National Football League’s top two teams can play in the cold. Besides, Chris Dolce, a meteorologist with weather.com, said the Super Bowl weather will be predicted by the exact weather pattern in place at that time.

“…which we cannot forecast this far in advance,” Dolce said. “Seasonal forecasts for the winter are done by a number of including NOAA and The Weather Channel. Although, they provide some value in determining what kind of temperatures and precipitation a particular region may see over the courage of a longer period of time, the day-to-day specifics are impossible to nail down.”

AMEN!

As a diehard football fan, who sat through plenty of late season Giants games in the bitter cold, there is something dream-like about the Super Bowl being played in cold winter weather. The only thing that could make it better for this football fan is if Big Blue was in it and won it. Hey, one can dream!