Potomac Phil, Punxsutawney Phil and meteorologists agree: warmer days are coming soon.
On Friday, two famous rodents made their annual Groundhog Day weather predictions.
Punxsutawney Phil – the icon of the folklore tradition – emerged from his winter slumber at dawn in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania. The supposedly over-100-year-old groundhog did not see his shadow, indicating an early spring.
Closer to home another groundhog (although taxidermied) prepared to make his own annual meteorological and political prediction.
In Washington’s Dupont Circle, where Potomac Phil has been the center of attention since 2012, the “unflinching prognosticator” made his latest prediction, after also not seeing his shadow. A crowd of top-hat-wearing, scroll-reading friends of Phil read out his prediction: early spring and six more months of political gridlock.
But do these furry companions have meteorological backing? Meteorologist Brendon Rubin-Oster from the National Weather Service said their predictions align.
“Winter lovers out there will be unhappy …. but there seems to be a general agreement there that winter would be ending early,” Rubin-Oster said in an interview with Montgomery Community Media.
The Climate Prediction Center, an agency run by the National Weather Service that makes long-term weather predictions, is forecasting that February will have above-average temperatures across the Baltimore-Washington area.
While winter lovers may not be a fan of this news, Rubin-Oster said there is still plenty of time left for snow this year through April.
Meteorologists might agree then with the Dupont Circle crowd who cheered: “In Phil we trust.”
Photo courtesy Anthony Quintano at https://flickr.com/photos/22882274@N04/51858867120
