Connecticut Groundhog At Odds With Groundhog Phil Over Prediction

You know what they say....It's February 2, and it's Groundhog Day.....again....

Actually this is not the movie "Groundhog Day", nor can you make this stuff up, but Houston we have a problem.

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Early this morning at the Connecticut Beardsley Zoo, their groundhog, Beardsley Bart, who's actually a black tailed prairie dog, arose from his burrow under a cloudy sky and did not see his shadow, and as everyone knows that means an early spring.

Meanwhile some 361 miles away, Punxsutawney Phil, the prognosticator of all prognosticators arose from his burrow in front of a crowd of thousands at Gobblers Knob and did see his shadow, and you all know what that means, 6 more weeks of winter.

Beardsley Zoo Director Greg Dancho issued a responce to the good news about spring that Beardsley Bart delivered.

Beardsley Bart is a very early riser and when he came out this morning, he did not see his shadow. Eery year, Beardsley Bart says that spring is coming eventually, and he has always been 100 percent correct.

Now lets clarify something, first things first. Beardsley Bart, as I stated earlier in this article, is a black tailed prairie dog, Phil is an actual groundhog, and yes there is a difference.

Let's take a look at the two critters. According to quora.com,  Groundhogs and Prairie Dogs are both members of the same family. They are similar in coloration and body shape, though the groundhog is much bigger. Prairie dogs and groundhogs both live in burrows, but prairie dogs will connect their burrows to huge colonies while groundhogs prefer to live on their own.

I don't know if you caught this part of the definition, but it says the Groundhog prefers to live on its own, so you see there is no one to influence Punxsutawney Phil, he made this decision all on his own, but who knows who swayed Beardsley Bart. So I'm officially throwing a flag on this call.

Really no matter how you slice it both Grounghogs will pretty much be right. Phil, because there is just about 6 more weeks of winter left on the calendar, and Bart, because the next few days will be on the milder side, and usually winter doesn't last all the way to March 20.