Posted by Bill Kirk, CEO
At 7:30am EST this morning Pennsylvania’s Groudhog weather prognosticator apparently saw his shadow predicting 6 more weeks of Winter. Sounds like Climate Gate 2 or he needs to get his eyes checked as the official weather observations showed completely overcast skies in Punxsutawney, PA this morning! Hmmm? He is 123 years old so the legend has it so I’m sticking with the bad eyes bit! Or, maybe its all the media camera lights that created the shadow which in part explains why the rodent has predicted 6-more weeks of winter in 10 of the past 11 years. Over 12,000 people from as far away as Chile mobbed the small town of just 5,944 permanent residents to see the rodent this morning. PETA was there too suggesting animal cruelty but this glorified squirrel is living the good life to say the least.
But, for what it’s worth our year-ahead forecast would agree with the rodent this go around and our crack marketing team says that 9 out of 10 groundhogs use Weather Trends before making their predictions! 
Weather Trends International has been advising clients for over a year now that late Winter into Spring would present a lot of challenges with a cold, wet and snowy start to February and similar trends until late March followed by more cold and wet through May. Late March early April looks to be the first strong taste of Spring so Phil is most likely right this go around!