Punxsutawney Phil vs. NOAA

Punxsutawney Phil went out, looked for his shadow in vain, and made it official this morning: Spring is destined to come early this year (and not a moment too soon).

It's an annual ritual, but does Phil really have any predictive powers? The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has run the numbers and, unfortunately, the news isn't good for groundhog lovers: A table of national temperature averages "shows no predictive skill for the groundhog during the most recent years of this analysis," the agency reports.

If you happen to be a true believer in large-rodent-and-sunshine-based weather analysis, the NOAA scientists are determined to burst your bubble. "It really isn't a 'bright' idea, they note, "to take a measure such as a groundhog's shadow and use it as a predictive meteorological tool for the entire United States."

Hat tip: Dorobek Insider