If you are reading this, Groundhog Day 2025 is over. The outcome of Groundhog Day is probably still in jeopardy. Did Phil see his shadow? Did he even come out and what does it mean to me or lots of other people? Sunny day or cloudy day: does it really have anything to do with early or late spring? Poor Phil the Groundhog will be blamed for the weather that is coming up and he really doesn’t have anything to do with it.
What can we do now? Is it fair to blame a poor groundhog for the weather all over the United States on a cloudy or sunny day? You have to wonder what is in it for Phil. Phil doesn’t make any prognostications about the weather before hand. He either comes and goes or sees his shadow or not. Does Phil get to take a trip to Disneyland or head off to a tropical island to enjoy some relaxing sunshine and not worry about being scared by a shadow? When I was a kid I saw Santa Claus by a lake in Florida. He said he was the real Santa Claus and that he spent most of January in Florida getting a suntan before going back to the North Pole. I just wondered if the groundhog got a vacation or was it back to the drudgery of waiting until next year?
Have you wondered about what sort of compensation does the groundhog get if he makes a correct move that matches the weather? It just doesn’t seem fair that there are all sorts of weathermen giving guesses about what kind of weather we will have in the next six weeks and they get salaries no matter if they are right or wrong. The groundhog might get a fresh carrot or something for all his trouble. Now comes an even bigger question. How much do you think about Groundhog Day? This event only comes one time a year. Then you have to wait 365 days to right the wrong. Seems like you would have to think about it a little bit every day. Could this be like a football team? Would you get a new coach, player, trainer, handler, if the football team didn’t get the results it wanted? Absolutely you would! So why wouldn’t they think about trading the groundhog or at least make the groundhog take early retirement? Surely that must have come up sometime.
The weathermen retire or move around the country. Seems like there would be some sort of system that would let the groundhog do the same thing. The coaches, handlers, trainers of the groundhog must worry about what happens all during the year. Is there any kind of training program or succession plan for maybe the single most important weather prognosticator? Television weather people go to school. They have back ups so you have to wonder what about this weather animal that only works one day a year.
One day of work and then 364 days of worrying about whether you were right or wrong. There must be a lot of stress involved in a job like this. It could be a great gig too. They feed you every day and you only have to come out once a year and look for your shadow. It might be the best job ever.
Well, the day has come a gone. It’s going to take a while to figure out if they were right or wrong about the weather. You also worry about if you have the right animal for this important task.
It really doesn’t mater though. People bet on horses running fast without knowing anything about them. “My horse had a cool name so I bet on him.” We think we know what is going to happen with the weather but with all the radar and tracking systems and computer models we still get it wrong. At least we give the weathermen a salary.
Well, I guess we’ll just have to wait until next year to find out whether this Groundhog Day was a success or not. I just hope that Phil will get a vacation and not worry to much about something as fickle as the weather.
