The Glade 4.0

According to this asinine legend, if the Groundhog doesn't see its shadow, winter weather will be gone in 2 weeks. If it sees its shadow, it will scare underground and winter weather will continue for another 6 weeks.

This year, the Vernal Equinox is at 3:45PM, March 20th (slightly earlier than usual.) That's 46 days, 8 hours, and 19 minutes after after Punxsutawney Phil cowered back into cover this morning. Note that 6 weeks is 42 days. That means that spring actually arrives approximately closer to 7 weeks from today. The break-even point would be just under 7 more weeks of winter. Anything less than that (Phil's 6 more weeks, for instance), is a prediction of warmer than usual weather, as winter weather can last well into spring for anyone north of Tennessee.

I submit Phil and other groundhogs engaged in meteorological prognostication (such as the more local Wiarton Willie, who even more egregiously predicted an early spring today) are frauds, overpromising and underdelivering, even on their most pessimistic predictions.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
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Yes, but the groundhogs themselves are not the frauds. It is the International Cult of the Groundhog which attempts to do the weather prognostication. The groundhogs would much rather we just left them alone and didn't add them to pagan rituals we practice.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

According to the Stormfax.com site,[13] as of 2015 Punxsutawney Phil has made 119 predictions, with an early spring (no shadow) predicted 18 times (15.1%). The site states (without evidence or corroborative references) that as of 2015 the predictions have proved correct 39% of the time. This is significantly worse than chance (p = 0.008), and - if the accuracy figure is correct - suggests the traditional interpretation of Punxsutawney Phil's predictions should be reversed.

From wiki

"This is one time where television really fails to capture the true excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather."

I have to give him credit for biting the mayor on the ear this year.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."