THOUSANDS of people will be gathering in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, this week for the annual Groundhog Day festivities. According to tradition, 2 February is the day the groundhog predicts the coming of spring. If the weather is bright and the groundhog can see its own shadow when it emerges from its burrow spring will be late. If the sky is overcast spring is coming soon.
Groundhog Day is just one of hundreds of examples of weather lore. But is any of it true?
The new discipline of ethnoclimatology suggests it might be. Some folklore turns out to be surprisingly good at…
