Punxsutawney Phil, a world-famous and fickle groundhog in Pennsylvania, saw his own shadow this morning, indicating there’s no early spring in the forecast. The prediction means Americans will have to brace for six more weeks of cold weather.

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow Thursday morning, meaning we'll see six more weeks of winter. Seattle, it seems, will be seeing those effects immediately.

Pedestrians huddle under umbrellas as they walk past the Pike Place Market and in view of Elliot Bay behind, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2017, in Seattle. Freezing rain, ice and fallen trees forced the closure of highways and roads in Oregon and Washington on Wednesday. Interstate 90, the main highway connecting western and eastern Washington, remained closed over Snoqualmie Pass until at least Thursday morning because of hazardous winter conditions.

Pedestrians huddle under umbrellas as they walk past the Pike Place...

The city has seen a frigid start to 2017. The average temperature for January at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was 37.9 degrees, which according to the National Weather Service, makes this the coldest January since 1993, which also averaged 37.9.

Average January temp at #SeaTac was 37.9 degrees. This makes 2017, the coldest January since 1993 (also 37.9) #wawx #Seattle

Thursday will be the last dry day before a weekend of precipitation in Western Washington. Light precipitation could start as snow on Thursday night and continue through Friday morning for Thurston and parts of Lewis counties. No significant accumulation is expected.

University of Washington meteorologist Cliff Mass wrote in blog post yesterday that Washington will start seeing some "increasingly wet storms" throughout the state starting Friday, with precipitation continuing through about 4 p.m. Sunday.

The windiest conditions will be in the Cascade Foothills, primarily around North Bend and Enumclaw. A high wind warning will be in effect until 6 a.m. Friday, with wind gusts near 60 mph in some areas.

Light precip Thu night-Fri morn could start as snow, rain/snow. Frzng rain or wintry mix poss for some. No sig accumulation expected #wawx pic.twitter.com/M6gTCNXkgC

The silver lining is that the mountains in some areas should be seeing up to five inches of snow with all this wet weather.

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