Groundhog Day: More winter or early spring?

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Legend has it that if Groundhog Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, we will still have six weeks of winter. If he doesn’t, spring will come early.

Right now, the outlook for Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney, Pa., Is for snow. A lot. The forecast for Tuesday morning while Phil makes his prediction calls for snow showers and temperatures in the mid-20s. Winds will be blowing up to 25 mph, which will make teens feel wind chills.

Even if it doesn’t snow very hard during Phil’s TV forecast, there will be at least 4-6 inches of fresh powder on the ground from a weekend winter storm that will sweep through the northeast from Sunday to Tuesday. .

The celebration, which is over a century old, will be a little different this year. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, there will be no crowds or guests present, but you can watch the ceremony on the internet via the live broadcast.

Predictions in the past

Phil is not new to the forecasting game. The ceremony has been taking place since 1887.

Scientifically speaking, winter will officially end at the equinox on March 20, regardless of what Phil predicts. But Mother Nature doesn’t always follow the schedule.

In fact, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, and South Dakota actually have their snowiest time of the year. after Groundhog day.

For the past two years in a row, Phil hasn’t seen his shadow, predicting an early spring.

In the past, Phil has been much more likely to see his shadow than not. He would have seen his shadow 104 times, but not just 20 times. Statistically speaking, Phil has been forecasting correct about 50% of the time over the past 10 years.

Phil has a lot of friends

Phil is not alone in his prognosis skills. In fact, there are many more like him. States like Ohio, North Carolina, New York, Georgia, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Illinois, Maryland, West Virginia, and Michigan all have their own groundhogs to use for predictions.

Some of the more colorful names include Pierre C. Shadeaux of Louisiana, General Beauregard Lee of Georgia, and Staten Island Chuck of New York to name a few.

There’s also Unadilla Bill from Nebraska who has one of the highest accuracy ratings in the groundhog industry.

This means that if you don’t like Phil’s predictions, there’s a good chance one of the other groundhogs is predicting something that you make as.

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