See: Groundhog Day (living the same day over and over again)
"Boston not springing to shady legend" by Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | February 3, 2009
.... The legend meets the numbers. According to the Northeast Regional Climate Center, it has continued to snow after March 16 in 50 of the last 60 years. March gets more snow in Boston than December does. And the average temperature is 38 degrees, hardly gardening weather.
In fact, who in Boston would believe even the pessimistic groundhog prediction of spring in mid-March?
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Of course, there's the granddaddy, Punxsutawney Phil in Pennsylvania.... a Middlebury College statistician concluded in a 2001 study, "Punxsutawney's Phenomenal Phorecaster," that 50 years of temperature and snowfall data from the Punxsutawney region show Phil has a shockingly good record. According to the study, he is better than 70 percent accurate in predicting whether warm weather came sooner or later.
"I was surprised," said the statistician, Paul Sommers. "It does add a little bit of credibility to that cute little animal's prognostications."
The tradition of taking weather advice from a groundhog traces its roots to Pennsylvania's German settlers, who brought with them the "Candlemas Day," a winter Christian rite of candle lighting and blessings. In Germany, they would look to a badger or even a bear to help determine the forecast. Groundhogs, an American native species, were substituted in the new world. These days, at least among many dealing with the elements in Boston, forecasting by groundhogs doesn't carry much weight.
It's "a cute item to break up the doldrums of winter," said Fraser.
"Almost like a childhood fairly tale," said Salo.
"I'm not using him to judge," said Tilas. "I'm looking up at the sky and going from there."
--more--"Yeah, whom are you going to believe on the environment? Your OWN SENSES, the animals, or the lying scientists from the government? The endless lying about this issue -- the weather, of all things -- has really angered and soured me on the AmeriKan MSM. And they have brainwashed so many lemmings to just nod.
So whom to believe, whom to believe?
"The almanac's winter forecast is at odds with that of the National Weather Service, whose trends-based outlook calls for warmer-than-normal temperatures over much of the country.... the almanac was on target in the 2008 edition when it called for the Northeast and the Great Lakes to be hit with a long, cold winter with lots of snow."
"The Old Farmer's Almanac, based in Dublin, N.H., predicted "global cooling" for the next two decades. The forecast was based on an expected change in sunspots and ocean temperatures, still better-understood factors than climate change, said the almanac's editor, Janice Stillman."We're looking forward to cooler-than-normal conditions for quite some time," Stillman said in a telephone interview."
"This month's temperatures are running 3 to 4 degrees colder than normal"
"Temperatures this frigid month are also well below the January average of 29.3 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. On many days the temperature plummeted more than 15 degrees below the historical average for that day"
For more, see my environment labels and scroll down.
I must confess, readers, it has reached the point where I am so far behind, and so sick of their endless repetitions I really could take the rest of my life to keep responding. Somethings gotta give, and it may be my patronage of such rubbish. The H.S. basketball tournaments are heating up, and the world is going to hell in a hand-basket anyway. Maybe it is time for the Monitor to take some time off.
You all just had the escapism of the Super Bowl; well, here is mine.
(Btw, this ancient frame was able to go back in time last night. I was ON FIRE at the local pick-up game I love so much. No bullshit; I scored 5 or 6 baskets in a row to keep the score tired or put us ahead in one game -- an overtime loss -- and I sunk the game-winner with a perfect splash to end the night. In between, I had bank shots from the side and an assorted moves down low. I left the court elated last night, and truth be told, I'm trying to hold on to the feeling. I don't want to let it go, not one of the few activities that give me joy in this world. And even out there on the 94x50 foot hardwood, I struggle)
