Lafayette -Meteorologist predicts that spring arrives on March 20

On By Littum

Lafayette, Ind. – Local meteorologist David Siple will pit his prediction of the spring’s arrival against Punxsutawney Phil – or any other Groundhog – at any time.

“In my meteorological predictions, I think we will get six weeks more in the winter,” Siple said with confidence in his voice, noting that spring will arrive on March 20: 5:01 March 20 to be precise.

Nevertheless, Sunday’s news broadcasts will definitely have a story about Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania’s famous rodent emerges from his hole and predicts if there will be an early spring or six weeks more winter based on whether the critic saw a shadow.

Should we put stock in a rodent by knowing what weather conditions will be?

“A Groundhog pops up once a year and guesses,” Joked Siple. “A meteorologist does it daily and calls it science.

“With regard to science, I think we still have some seizures of cold weather. Now jump -like weather may occur, ”he said, admitting that warmer days are ahead of us. “We will start having these temperature fluctuations.”

Temperatures are expected to hit 50 on Sunday, but it will be cloudy, Siple said.

Cloudy can mean less chance that a soil hook is throwing a shadow for it to see.

“We’ll be cold again next week,” Siple said, tossing a damper on what Groundhog had to predict.

How groundhog -forecasts started

Groundhog Day started in Middle Ages Europe when German-speaking people would notice when Counties came out of hibernation and take it as a sign of the upcoming spring weather, according to Steve Winick, published on the Library of the Congress site on February 1, 1 . 2022.

As the German -speaking people immigrated to what would become the United States, Badger’s shortage was on the East Coast. So the stranger Groundhog as the spring forecasts of the spring.

In 1887, the happy people in Punxsutawney Groundhog Day turned into a party – and of course a weather forecasts.

Groundhog expected accuracy

SIPLE looked at data from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and Punxsutawney Phil’s predictions since 1887.

But taking Phil’s predictions and applying it to the Indianapolis area – and by default Lafayette – Phil’s predictions are improving, Sipel said.

“It’s a bit of a throw,” Siple said, noticing that Phil’s predictions for Indiana weather have been wrong 52% of the time.

This means that Phil has been right about 48% of the time to predict Indiana’s spring, Siple said.

On the head, if the fat gnawing gets it wrong and winter is pulled out, hunting of basic hoofs is legal in Indiana and no permission is required, according to state law. In addition, a quick Google search shows lots of recipes for how to make ground dogs.

FYI: Indiana Law does not allow hunting of meteorologists.

Sunday’s ceremonies and hoopla boil down to just one thing to pass a middle winter day.

“It’s a fun party,” Siple said. “It’s just a tradition that always brings more fun into the meteorology.”

At the end of April, we should all know if Groundhog’s prediction this year is correct. But at that time, the few remember the critics’ forecast.

Maybe Bill Murray’s character in the 1993 movie “Groundhog Day” summarizes the moment.

“This is once,” Murray’s character declares, “where TV really doesn’t manage to catch the true tension by a big squirrel that predicts the weather.”

Well Ron Wilkins at [email protected]. Follow on Twitter: @Ronwilkins2.