Monday, February 08, 2010

Groundhog Says More Winter on the Way


Word is out that Punxsutawney Phil, the famed groundhog who predicts the weather when he either sees or does not see his shadow on February 2nd of each year has seen his shadow this year, foretelling six more weeks of winter for the eastern United States.

This means that in New York, where IDT Energy supplies electricity and natural gas to customers throughout the area, people can be expected to continue to use large amounts of electricity to heat their homes for at least six more weeks. This is a great time to examine your home for any obvious places where cold air is getting in and warm air is leaking out, and weatherizing those spots with weather stripping. Take special care to check around doors, window frames, attics and basements.

How accurate are Phil’s predictions? Well, according to carefully kept chronicles, Phil has seen his shadow 99 out of 114 observations, predicting six more weeks of winter weather. When we compare this with the actual weather according to the Stormfax Almanac, Phil is correct only 39% of the time. But considering that predicting the weather six weeks in advance is hard even for the most “weathered” of weathermen, maybe Phil aint doin’ too bad.

Dont wait six more weeks. IDT Energy urges you to insulate your home today and start saving on your energy bill.