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Several notable storms have struck the U.S. on Groundhog Day over the last 100 years.

1976 Nor’easter

On Groundhog Day 1976, a coastal storm rapidly intensified - - or "bombed out" - - as it moved northward into New England. Wind gusts exceeded 110 mph at Bear Island and Southwest Harbor, Maine. Chatham, Mass., reported a gust of 98 mph.

Caribou, Maine, set a new all-time record low pressure of 957 millibars (28.26 inches) and Boston recorded it second lowest pressure ever (965 millibars or 28.48 inches).

Tides 3-feet above-normal caused extensive coastal flooding. After reaching the coast, the surge of water funneled up Maine’s Penobscot River, causing a surge exceeding 10 feet in the city of Bangor, Maine. About 200 vehicles were submerged, and the frigid water trapped many people in their buildings and cars.

With mild air in place, most of the precipitation fell as rain. However, a cold front swung through toward the end of the storm, causing a 40- to 50-degree temperature drops along with blizzard conditions over parts of interior New England for a few hours.

Groundhog Tropical Storm

Groundhog Day 1952 featured the only tropical storm to ever make landfall in the U.S. in the month of February since records began in the late 1880s.

The tropical storm formed in the northwest Caribbean Sea during the evening of February 1. It moved rapidly northeast at a speed in excess of 35 mph, passing near Key West early in the evening of February 2, and passing Miami around midnight.

Miami reported sustained winds near 60 mph with gusts to 68 mph. Two to 4 inches of rain fell across southern Florida. The rain and wind caused significant damage to crops in and around Miami.

The Atlantic Basin tropical season runs from June to November. Cooler water temperatures and strong upper level winds make tropical development increasingly unlikely as fall transitions to winter, but tropical storms have occasionally formed in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico during the winter.

2011 Groundhog Day Blizzard

A major winter storm roared across the central Plains, Midwest and Northeast from January 31 through February 2, 2011. Chicago was hit the hardest, where more than a foot of snow and blizzard conditions driven by winds in excess of 60 mph stranded commuters, some on transit buses, on the famous Lake Shore Drive.

Blizzard conditions were also reported in such widely disperse locations as Tulsa and Oklahoma City, Okla., Kansas City, St. Louis, El Paso, Texas, Milwaukee, Detroit, Indianapolis and Boston.

This same system also produced a devastating ice storm that hit parts of northern and central Texas, Ohio, central and northern Pennsylvania and interior New England. Power outages and demand for power in Texas caused rolling blackouts throughout the Lone Star State. Damage from the ice storm nationwide totaled $1 Billion.

2015 Winter Storm

Chicago may not be the best place to be for Groundhog Day. A massive swath of the U.S. was impacted by a significant winter storm between January 29 and February 3, 2015. Although cities from the Southwest to the Northeast received more than a foot of snow, Chicago and Detroit were hit the hardest.

Chicago received 19.3 inches of snow, making it the fifth largest snowfall in history and Detroit saw its third heaviest snowfall after receiving 16.7 inches of snow. Boston saw 16.2 inches of snow and Buffalo got 14.1 inches. Punxsutawney, Pa., missed out on the heavy snowfall, but steady rain changed over to snow just in time for Phil’s annual weather prediction, where he saw his shadow and appropriately predicted six more weeks of winter.

More than 3,000 flights were canceled thanks to this nasty winter storm, with most of the cancelations coming from Chicago area airports. Blizzard conditions were also briefly seen across the Chicago metro area.

Image: Satellite image of the 2015 winter storm moving off of the East Coast on February 2 (NOAA)

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Historic Groundhog Day Storms