Talk:Groundhog Day

Bottom Line

How much winter could a woodchuck weather, if a woodchuck could weather winter?

11:53, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

Clean Up Predictions table

This table gets longer each year with new prognostications. Since Wikipedia isn't just a compilation of lists, I suggest paring down this table to the most recent predictions. Thoughts?Wkharrisjr (talk) 13:02, 2 February 2011 (UTC)

Also why does every animal in every little town have to be mentioned on this chart. Why cant it stick to animals with articles or just the famous ones. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.38.59.163 (talk) 17:54, 2 February 2011 (UTC)

Dunkirk Dave

The article currently lists Dunkirk Dave as living in Dunkirk, New York. This is incorrect. Though he is named for Dunkirk, Dunkirk Dave lives in the Buffalo Zoo in Buffalo, New York.Floggolozzo (talk) 21:55, 2 February 2011 (UTC)

Is there a source or citation for this fact? I did some casual Googling, and according to a 2010 article in Dunkirk's Observer paper, "With cloudy skies above Dunkirk Dave's den on Farmlane Drive in the town of Dunkirk, the weather-forecasting groundhog predicted early spring weather for Western New York." [1] Alphageekpa (talk) 22:53, 17 February 2011 (UTC)

Cleanup of "In Popular Culture"

Removed the following content from the "In Popular Content" section as non-notable. Alphageekpa (talk) 22:16, 17 February 2011 (UTC)

• Sega often connects promotions for its Sonic the Hedgehog franchise to February 2, dubbing it "Hedgehog Day." It started with Sonic the Hedgehog 3, a Genesis game released in North America on February 2, 1994. "Hedgehog Day" is also an episode in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic book.

• In the episode "Next Question" of the children's animated show, As Told by Ginger, Carl and Hoodsey liberate the town's groundhog so they can sell scarves remembering their Groundhog, Pete. When the matter is investigated, a monkey, Mr. Licorice, is found in the hole and people think that he ate Pete.

• In an episode of The O.C. titled "The Groundhog Day," Seth Cohen and Che attempt to save the animal used on Groundhog Day in their town of Newport.

• Nintendo's GameCube game Animal Crossing celebrates Groundhog Day on February 2 as well. The mayor of the in-game town mentions it is the day "The groundhog fairy comes around to give groundhogs to all the good little boys and girls" and a mole character takes up the role of Groundhog for the celebrations.

• In the PlayStation 3 game LittleBigPlanet, a free costume is given out in celebration during the week of Groundhog Day.

• The comic book Hack/Slash: Entry Wound featured a Groundhog Day-based villain, an undead serial killer buried in Pennsylvania who would awaken and bring six weeks of death if the groundhog saw its shadow.

• In the TV Show One Piece, there is a character called "Ms. Groundhog Day".

Ground

If a groundhog sees it shadow that should signify that winter will end, because it is sunny — Preceding unsigned comment added by Seisho11 (talk • contribs) 23:03, 29 October 2011 (UTC)

I think this also brings up the old saying that one is "scared of his own shadow." If this does indeed releate to Groundhog Day, it would mean that the groundhog sees his own shadow, is scared of it, and runs inside to sleep another 6 weeks. In terms of weather, a clear sky in winter allows what heat there is to escape as infrared radiation. A cloudy sky blocks this cooling, leading to warmer temperatures. If the cloudiness continues, it would mean a warming trend and, thus, a shorter winter. Of course, in 2012 in Greater Cincinnati, the weather promises to be in the 50s (F). --Paul E Musselman Paulmmn (talk) 21:58, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Groundhog Day

On 12:47, 3 February 2006 a certain IP known for many unsourced contributions added a "Scottish poem" (see [2]) to Groundhog Day. Six years later the poem is still in the article. Is there any reference outside Wikipedia, its online clones or book clones for such a poem? --Pp.paul.4 (talk) 17:05, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

I've found one or two of uncertain reliability, but this article from the Farmer's Almanac (of which I am only vaguely aware, but understand to be a respected publication) may be useful. However they all seem to postdate the poem's addition to our article, and only describe it as a traditional Scottish poem, with no further information on authorship or provenance. AJCham 17:32, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

Three separate rhymes quoted in Richard Inwards Weather Lore (1893), an anthology of traditional weather wisdom, seem to have a bearing on this. The first (p. 15) goes:

On Candlemas Day
You must have half your straw and half your hay.

The second (p. 15):

If Candlemas Day be fair and bright,
Winter will have another flight.
But if Candlemas Day bring clouds and rain,
Winter is gone and won't come again.

The third (p. 16):

On Candlemas Day, if the thorns hang a drop,
Then you are sure of a good pea crop.

The differences between these and the lines added by the IP are quite slight. Inwards sources none of his rhymes apart from saying that the last one comes from Sussex. It looks to me like Wikipedia has created one poem out of several, and everyone else has, as usual, followed us. --Antiquary (talk) 21:42, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

And just to add more, my copy of the 1873 (enlarged by Henry Ellis) edition of John Brand's Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, while not quoting any of the foregoing rhymes, quotes from the "Country Almanack for 1676", "Foul weather is no news, hail, rain and snow / Are now expected and esteem'd no woe; / Nay, 'tis an omen bad, the yeomen say, / If Phœbus shews his face the second day", and cites as an adage of "old country people in Scotland", "If Candlemas is fair and clear, / There'll be twa winters in the year." I agree, however, that the "poem" presented in our article is likely to be a conflation of multiple traditional adages and that it's probably misleading to present it as a single poem. Deor (talk) 22:30, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

I agree, a conflation of multiple traditional adages without special reference to Scotland. I removed the poem from de:Groundhog Day (which I rewrote completely). Note the interesting quote from Westphalia there: "If the badger sees his shadow on Candlemas Day between 11 a.m. and noon, it has to stay in its burrow for another four weeks" (Adalbert Kuhn: Sagen, Gebräuche und Märchen aus Westfalen, 2. Teil: Gebräuche und Märchen, Leipzig:Brockhaus 1859, page 118) --Pp.paul.4 (talk) 01:51, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

Meteorological Accuracy

The article describes the odds by chance as 33% (presumably 33.333...), but I don't understand why it wouldn't be 50%, since there are only two possible "guesses". 184.76.225.106 (talk) 07:43, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

hahaha

Gobbler's Knob