PUNXSUTAWNEY - Punxsutawney Phil emerged from his winter den this morning to critize a Pennsylvania man who predicted a forty-inch snowstorm for March 7. Lester Moyer of Exeter Township, Berks County, says he learned to "read the sky" from his father and grandfather. He had correctly forecast the two large storms in February, 2010, and his prediction of a massive snowstorm for March set off a frenzy in winter-weary Pennsylvania.
"It's just flat-out stupid to throw out numbers," Phil said today. "When I teach my seminars for the National Weather Service, I always emphasize vagueness. Last year, they came out with a winter forecast that said there was a third chance of a mild winter, a third chance of a normal winter, and a third chance of a severe winter. You can't go wrong with that kind of statement."
"And my proclamations are general, too," the weather-predicting marmot said. "If you notice, I always stick with saying winter or Spring, and more often than not I call for more winter. That way, if Spring shows up early, no one's really mad at me." Phil declined to discuss his 2007 prediction of an early Spring, which was followed by a massive ice storm just two weeks later.
Phil said he is thinking of branching into other areas of forecasting, but don't expect him to be more specific in any case. "I've been thinking about the end of the world lately," Pennsylvania's most-popular groundhog says. "And the world may or may not end on December 12, 2012."
