Top

Did He See His Shadow

February 2, 2012 by · Comments Off on Did He See His Shadow 

Did He See His Shadow, Groundhog Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. So this means we are in for another six weeks of winter, but don’t be too worried – he is only 39 per cent accurate, as you can see by my previous article below. This year he may be right as meteorologists agree with Phil, plus a massive winter storm is headed across the Rockies. Phil will go back to bed.

Punxsutawney Phil was ready for Groundhog Day 2012. On this day, about 40,000 people turn out to see Punxsutawney Phil emerge from his hole. Now I normally don’t write about this kind of thing, but I really think this is a great story that interests people around the world. Tomorrow I’ll be back to cancer research, cycling, extreme adventure and other related firefighting stuff.

There are other groundhog imitators like Staten Island Chuck in New York, Balzak Billy in Alberta, but Phil is the real deal.

In New York, Dunkirk Dave is touted as the world’s second-longest predicting groundhog. Phil is said to be 100.
In Ohio, it’s Buckeye Chuck.
Sir Walter Wally is Raleigh, North Carolina’s resident groundhog.
And in Alabama, their groundhog is Birmingham Bill.
In Atlanta Georgia, General Beauregard Lee makes his annual Groundhog Day prediction.
So here’s the deal about Phil’s 39 per cent accuracy prediction record. On Feb. 2 Phil will emerge from his temporary home on Gobbler’s Knob to let a waiting crowd know how much longer winter will last this year.

If he emerges and sees his shadow he will return to his hole, as there will be another six weeks of winter. If he doesn’t see his shadow, winter is ending and he will stay above ground and party with the 40,000 people who came to see him. But let me interject here for a second. I don’t want to break tradition but if Phil is only right 39 per cent of the time, why don’t we change the format? If he sees his shadow winter ends. If he doesn’t it stays. Then he would be 61 per cent right!

Bottom