1 hour ago
2
Eat my forecast, Phil!
Staten Island Chuck has yet again solidified his record of prognostic prophecy by accurately predicting a long and dreaded winter this year, a group of city school students has found.
The teen scientists from Susan Wagner High School confirmed Thursday what many bone-chilled New Yorkers might have already guessed about the city suffering through six more weeks of winter after Groundhog Day on Feb. 2.
The lengthy cold meaning the New York’s resident rodent protected his 86% Groundhog Day accuracy rate, compared to Punxsutawney Phil’s measly 39%.
“We know how accurate he is. We knew that he was going to be right, so we were kind of disappointed because no one really wanted six weeks of winter!” said Abigail Saladis, 18, a senior at the school.
“We’re happy he’s right. We’re upset about the news.”
The students — made up of the Staten Island school’s agricultural science and AP environmental classes — delivered the verdict at the borough’s zoo Thursday for what District Attorney Michael McMahon dubbed “Academy Award Day for Chuck.”
This year’s prediction marks the 17th year the resident rodent — whose real full name is “Charles G. Hogg” — has accurately predicted the weather, bumping his history accuracy rate just above 86%.
His more-famous groundhog counterpart, Pennsylvania’s Punxsutawney Phil, is only correct 35% of the time — though this year took a cue from Chuck and fell in line with his long-winter prediction.
There has been a long line of prognosticating fury city slickers carrying on the accuracy legacy at the Staten Island Zoo, all of whom are known eponymously as “Charles G. Hogg.”
The students have been tracking temperatures every day since Chuck saw his shadow on Feb. 2 using their state-of-the-art weather station, which detects the moisture in the soil on campus.
“We record the highest temperatures throughout the day and then we mark it down using color coordination to get a pretty accurate depiction of the weather day to day,” explained Saladis, an environmental student.
According to their findings, the Big Apple spent 30 days over the last six weeks battling the frosty temperatures and several days of historic snowfall.
Just 17 days rose above 45 degrees — including the four-day span last week where spring-like temperatures brought false hope of an early spring.
Even Thursday’s temperatures — the final day before the spring equinox — recorded a high of just 44 degrees.
While the teens were confident in Chuck’s prognostic skills, they were frustrated at the result — which kept the agricultural students in teacher Robert Frendrick’s class from planting their spring garden.
“Every day we’re like, ‘Mr. Frendrick, when are we going to get to go outside? We don’t want to be in this classroom anymore!” said Roselynn Gonzalez, 17, a junior at the school.
The students have been utilizing Churck’s data to determine the optimal conditions for moving their trove of strawberries, squash, fig trees and more to their outdoor greenhouse.
But the results showed that the weather was not yet holding steady overnight temperatures of above 40 degrees, which is necessary for the plants’ survival.
Some of the plants are eager to be relocated as well — with towering tomato vines growing so tall that some are hanging over students’ desks.
The annual planting — and subsequent salad parties born from the fruits of their labor — is a highlight of the curriculum, and one the class is eager to participate in after harvesting a successful crop of radishes in the fall.
“That’s what really made me love the class so much. I really am passionate about this class. It really brings you together to make a whole garden with your classmates. And we’re really looking forward to doing that again at the end of the year,” said Aya Fayed, 17.
For now, the students are optimistically looking at mid-April for their garden planting and are utilizing the extra few weeks of winter to plan out how they will keep bugs from munching on their crops.
English (US)