Today is Groundhog Day, which, aside from being completely irrelevant to Southern California, always seems to confuse me. It's such an odd tradition in the first place, and I, admittedly, have never looked into the history of this ceremonial removal-of-a-rodent-from-a-hole-to-predict-the-weather. But blind acceptance of the tradition in mind, I still can't get past the logic with the shadow/winter correlation.Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today, which means there will be six more weeks of winter. If he didn't see his shadow, it would mean spring is near. Really think about that. He saw his shadow today, meaning the sun was shining bright, casting a shadow. So, that means six more weeks of winter? If he didn't see his shadow, implying heavy cloud cover, we are to celebrate the start of spring? Shouldn't it be the other way around? Dreary, cloudy weather conditions, to me, imply winter is in full force, and a bright sunny day signifies springtime.
This has bothered me since I was a kid. Frankly, I think those Punxsutawney guys have it ass-backwards. Again, it doesn't matter one lick to me, here in Huntington Beach, because we only have two seasons all year: summer and sorta-summer.
But what we really should be doing today is celebrating the gem, cult-classic movie starring Bill Murray, checking the Weather Channel for our forecasts and not relying on small ground animals for any scientific information.
Read about today's Groundhog day event here.
Read about the movie Groundhog Day here.
[ j. ]
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