17th Place: Punxsatawney Phil
February 2, 2025 1:21 AM   Subscribe

In honor of Groundhog Day and in the spirit of fun, we pitted groundhogs from all over the United States against each other — and data from NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information — to see who’s the most accurate. From Grading the groundhogs
posted by chavenet (12 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Something weird is going on when a sundial only manages to score 75%.
posted by flabdablet at 3:02 AM on February 2 [2 favorites]


A YouTube short in which A TV news reporter encounters a talking doomer groundhog
posted by otherchaz at 3:30 AM on February 2 [3 favorites]


Who among us has not bitten the hand of the Mayor of New York City?
posted by mittens at 4:40 AM on February 2 [7 favorites]


I suspect they are measuring the accuracy of the prediction — if the groundhog/statue/tortoise indicated (by whatever system we’ve declared), then there will be X more weeks of winter (whatever that means) — vs what is actually observed. Most of them amount to “if it’s sunny on the 28th, then winter), which I guess explains how a sundial could vary within a human time frame.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:54 AM on February 2 [3 favorites]


Who among us has not bitten the hand of the Mayor of New York City?
posted by mittens at 4:40 on February 2


/me adds item to bucket list
posted by otherchaz at 4:55 AM on February 2 [4 favorites]


🎶I got you, babe 🎵
posted by Devils Rancher at 5:23 AM on February 2 [5 favorites]


The nuttiest phone call I ever got was the 5:30am one from our son, who was in Punxsatawney for the Groundhog Day fest. He was screaming in order for me to hear him over the drunken ruckus. In his words…”This is fuckin’ insane!”
posted by Thorzdad at 6:19 AM on February 2 [4 favorites]


Correction: Ron Jeremy was referred to as a hedgehog rather than groundhog, and no record exists of his manhood, in either standard state, being used to predict the weather.
posted by zaixfeep at 7:03 AM on February 2 [2 favorites]


That reminds me that it’s Christie Brinkley’s birthday (which is also Groundhog Day).

Happy 71st, ma’am. Thank you for the wonderful country you guided me in to.
posted by Lemkin at 7:34 AM on February 2 [2 favorites]


This article is vague, gives no statistics, and a statue came in third?!?!
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:05 AM on February 2 [3 favorites]


> Peta will deliver a delicious 'Weather Reveal' vegan cake each Groundhog Day in perpetuity if Dunkel agrees to let Punxsutawney Phil and his family retire to a reputable sanctuary, a move that will earn the outfit kudos from wildlife fans,” the group said in a press release.

No!

Also, Happy Birthday, Christie Brinkley!

(look at pic of Christie) … dayummmm ...
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 11:20 AM on February 2 [1 favorite]


As noted here, Groundhog's Day fka Bear Day for thousands of years previously is the first day of Spring on the Cross-quarter calendar. With the same drill -- bear comes out of its cave, sees its shadow and skedaddles back in. To confirm this in my experience is that this is the day the house finches begin to sing and they are the best singers in the Pacific Northwest bar none.
posted by y2karl at 5:35 PM on February 2


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