Classic Rant #186 (February 3, 2010): Winterized!

The groundhogs have had their say, and according to their findings, we will be seeing more winter this year.

Punxsutawney Phil, the most famous of these weather prognosticators, saw his shadow on Groundhog Day, which was yesterday on Feb. 2. This means that there are six more weeks of winter that we are in store for.

Local prognosticators Malverne Mel and Holtsville Hal also saw their shadows, and darned if they may not be right, because as I look outside my window, it is snowing here on Long Island.

It appears the only one who is not in agreement is Staten Island's own groundhog, whose name I don't know. I heard yesterday that he did not see his shadow, so we won't have a long winter this year.

Well, it is three against one. As the snow falls today, I have to say that if I were a betting man, I would place my money on the three.

Sure, this is all nonsense when you look at it, but people's lives are run by the weather. Forecasting the weather is important business. Don't we get upset when our local forecasters get a forecast wrong? Don't we swear up and down when our plans are derailed because of the weather?

And this winter, the weather has been strange, to say the least. The West has received an incredible amount of rain, the Midwest has gotten a little bit of everything, and the East has had lots of snow starting in December.

Maybe we should roll out the groundhogs even more often during the year. They seem to be at least as good as your local talking head weather forecaster is at predicting the weather.

Let me get my shovel.