Back to the Hog: Let's Ask the Giraffe For His Prognostication

From the Feb. 3rd Chicago Tribune.

Well, it was a week ago that our own Woodstock Willie prognosticated an early spring.  Temps have been in the upper 30s and 40s since then, with a cool-down to the 20s due this weekend.  After our last five years of cold and snowy winters, this is a real appreciated break.  Thanks Willie.

Feb. 2nd, that "other" hog, Punxsutawney Phil emerged and saw his shadow, meaning six more weeks of hard winter.  Chicago WGN meteorologist Tim McGill, on the Chicago Weather Center blog, "Punxsutawney Phil is a punk when it comes to weather forecasting."  he cited one study that had Phil being right only 39% of the time.  "We might as well ask a giraffe for stock picks...."

Of course, the good folks in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, where 18,000 revelers descended on Gobbler's Knob outside town last Thursday, are still mad that Woodstock, Illinois, was chosen to stand in for their town in the famous "Groundhog Day" movie.  They insist any other groundhog doing the forecasting is a charlatan.

Punxsutawney has celebrated Groundhog Day since at least 1886, making Phil's 126th prognostication.  They claim Phil is immortal, which he must be since the typical woodchuck, er, groundhog, only lives six to eight years, perhaps he is.

Charlatan, Smarlatan Says Woodstock Willie.  --RoadDog