If you sometimes daydream about weather lore, you’ll enjoy what the groundhog had to say Friday morning.
Actually, Punxsutawney Phil didn’t say anything, of course, but does he have to? Upon exiting his humble dwelling, head held high, he gazed at the large crowd cheering him on. The skies were cloudy, and therefore he didn’t see his shadow. The crowd cheered loudly again as his mouth trembled and, somewhat confused, he slowly closed his eyes and returned to his cozy winter abode.
An early spring has been announced, and here we are. Phil may have been a scapegoat of sorts in the past, with his many forecasts of six more weeks of winter, which is more common than the early-spring prediction.
I’m sure if there were any local groundhogs — or woodchucks, perhaps, at the Portland Zoo — they would have differed with old Phil: We had much brighter skies and, yes, shadows. Six more weeks of winter weather for us? Well, climate-wise, the next four weeks are still winter; by the calendar, it’s more than six weeks.
