Ok folks this is one of those don’t shoot the messenger stories, so please ease up on the emails when you’ve finished reading.
First of all I’m here to tell you that Punxsutawney Phil is a fraud. There, I have said it. Now, Phil is not a fraud in the Milli Vanilli sense, because in this case Phil is just a victim of his own circumstance.
You see, I blame those folks in Gobblers Knob, Pennsylvania who have been working this ground hog scam for over 120 years and yet every February second, there we are glued to our televisions, hoping the little marmot doesn’t see his shadow so that we can enjoy an early spring.
Well I’ve got news for you; the odds are stacked against Phil. First of all Ground Hogs day takes place every year on the same day, Feb 2, the midway point of winter. If you carefully count the days, one week at a time starting on Feb 3, you will see that the six week period in question ends just three days prior to the official start of spring, which in most cases is Mar 20.
Needless to say, there will always be six more weeks of winter following Feb 2, whether Phil sees his shadow or not. Hey, don’t get me wrong, I love the little furry fella but the tooth fairy he’s not.
First of all I’m here to tell you that Punxsutawney Phil is a fraud. There, I have said it. Now, Phil is not a fraud in the Milli Vanilli sense, because in this case Phil is just a victim of his own circumstance.
You see, I blame those folks in Gobblers Knob, Pennsylvania who have been working this ground hog scam for over 120 years and yet every February second, there we are glued to our televisions, hoping the little marmot doesn’t see his shadow so that we can enjoy an early spring.
Well I’ve got news for you; the odds are stacked against Phil. First of all Ground Hogs day takes place every year on the same day, Feb 2, the midway point of winter. If you carefully count the days, one week at a time starting on Feb 3, you will see that the six week period in question ends just three days prior to the official start of spring, which in most cases is Mar 20.
Needless to say, there will always be six more weeks of winter following Feb 2, whether Phil sees his shadow or not. Hey, don’t get me wrong, I love the little furry fella but the tooth fairy he’s not.
As far as predicting the weather, Punxsutawney Phil is about as accurate as my former television colleagues and their fancy, schmancy weather equipment; Again, Cecily, David, Sallyann, Karen, Adam, no emails please.
Of course in their defense, there is a larger margin of error when predicting the weather over a six week period versus a 10 day forecast.
Just in case you were curious, of the 114 predictions on record so far, Punxsutawney Phil has predicted an early spring 14 times (12%). As to his accuracy, according to the Stormfax Weather Almanac and records kept since 1887, Phil's predictions have been correct just 39% of the time.
Note: Not trying to add to the conspiracy, but how is it that Philip is able to actually see his shadow, when they pull him out of his hole, before the Sun is an position to even cast a shadow. Just alittle something someting to make you go hmmmmmmmm?
Of course in their defense, there is a larger margin of error when predicting the weather over a six week period versus a 10 day forecast.
Just in case you were curious, of the 114 predictions on record so far, Punxsutawney Phil has predicted an early spring 14 times (12%). As to his accuracy, according to the Stormfax Weather Almanac and records kept since 1887, Phil's predictions have been correct just 39% of the time.
Note: Not trying to add to the conspiracy, but how is it that Philip is able to actually see his shadow, when they pull him out of his hole, before the Sun is an position to even cast a shadow. Just alittle something someting to make you go hmmmmmmmm?
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