Saturday, February 4, 2012

Phil vs. Weather Guessers

First of all my apologies for yesterdays blog posting multiple times on facebook,I kept getting a message saying the page was down,and being a sucker I believed them and retried posting it several times before actually checking to verify it wasn't posted.
Punxsutawney,PA. home to Phil the groundhog celebrates the occasion with music and food. The Groundhog day celebration is rooted in a Celtic superstition that proposes if a hibernating animal casts a shadow on February 2,the Pagan holiday of Imbloc,winter will last another six weeks,if no shadow is seen legends states that spring will come early.
Phil has been forecasting 122 years  as of 2012,though some years were not recorded. Of the 115 predictions on record Phil has predicted 15 early springs. He has an accuracy rate of 39%. When Phil isn't "at work" he lives in the town library with his wife Phyllis. I have always been a fan of Phil's but always hope on the years that he sees his shadow that he will be wrong,as I am hoping this year and so far (cross your fingers here) it doesn't look to good for Phil this year.
Oddly enough I could find NO statistics of weather forecasters accuracy,and one site claimed that no meteorologist or TV station kept records of their predictions,so I guess Phil wins this competition hands down!
A groundhog and his handler.

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