Today, Punxsutawney Phil, the prognosticator of prognosticators, AKA chief meteorologist, emerged from his burrow on Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney Pennsylvania to the sight of his plump penumbral shadow indicating that we’re in for another 6 weeks of winter!
I really wish our reaction to the news could be a bit more animated…
but the weather has not given us much to BHYYAAHH! about yet this season. Thankfully, the odds favor Phil’s forecast.
Accuweather.com wrote “because the year’s coldest quarter, also known as meteorological winter, runs from Dec. 5 to March 5, Phil’s accuracy in predicting a longer winter is about 80 percent.”
Since his first forecast in 1887, Punxsutawney Phil has seen his shadow and called for an extended winter 99 times. The groundhog has only failed to see his shadow 16 times (there are 9 years missing in the record).
Let’s hope he’s right this year. It would be a shame if Phil were losing his statistical advantage on this one.
