WooHoo..I knew the big rat would get on the global warming kick
Posted on 02/02/2007 4:51:18 AM PST by Lunatic Fringe
PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. - A new pair of hands pulled Punxsutawney Phil from his stump this year, so it was only fitting that the groundhog offered a new prediction.
Phil did not see his shadow on Friday which, according to German folklore, means folks can expect an early spring instead of six more weeks of winter.
Since 1886, Phil has seen his shadow 96 times, hasn't seen it 14 times and there are no records for nine years, according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. The last time Phil failed to see his shadow was in 1999.
More than 15,000 revelers milled about in a misty snow waiting for the prediction, as fireworks exploded overhead and the "Pennsylvania Polka" and other music blared in the background.
Longtime handler Bill Deeley retired after more than a dozen years and was replaced Friday by Punxsutawney Groundhog Club Inner Circle members John Griffiths and Ben Hughes.
Each Feb. 2, thousands of people descend on Punxsutawney, a town of about 6,100 people about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, to celebrate what had essentially been a German superstition.
The Germans believed that if a hibernating animal cast a shadow on Feb. 2 - the Christian holiday of Candlemas - winter would last another six weeks. If no shadow was seen, legend said spring would come early.
Let me be the first - Global Warming!
And, happy Birthday.
Excellent!!!!!!! Happy Birthday Lunatic Fringe!!!
WooHoo..I knew the big rat would get on the global warming kick
This should be in Breaking News.
Yep, the groundhog has been paid off by global warming extremists! :(
Yeah, global warming... today is the 6th ice/snow day in Dallas this winter. We average 1 per year.
One thing about it, Phil is as accurate as
99.99% of the weather people in the world.
Perhaps I'm being a bit dense, but aren't the humans standing around capable of telling if they can see their own shadows instead of deferring such observations to a rodent?
And how did that Spring turn out?
Just set a new record low in Denver today - 18 below. Bring on the global warming !
The roads around the mid cities are a disaster.
Happy GH day and remember, dont drive angry!
Bush's fault.
Whatever Phil predicts is as scientific as those who preach global warming. He comes out, makes his prediction and then shuts up for a whole year.
HaPpY bIrThDaY!!!
I was sure hoping he'd see his shaddow because most years I wear shorts year round, but this year I'm bundled up and still freezing. Yep, global warming is doing me in this year.
Bush's fault!!!
Well that's real nice Phil but I woke up to a winter storm warning and predictions of the coldest weather I've seen so far this year.
Oh, and happy B day Lunatic
Thank god!
(Happy birthday)
Now Al Gore's troops are going to storm into Pennsylvania and force us in to indoctrination camps because we aren't taking him serious.
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