Groundhog Day the Hornet Way at Northern Vermont University-Lyndon!

NVU-Lyndon Hornet Predicts Six More Weeks of Winter in the North Country

Groundhog Punxsutawney Phil has been at his job predicting just when winter will end since 1887. But with only a 40% accuracy rate, Northern Vermont University Atmospheric Sciences students believe it’s time for a fresh perspective grounded in real science. And today, they introduced a new weather forecaster to their team: NVU-Lyndon’s own Buzz the Hornet!

At 12:30 p.m. in Veterans Park on the Lyndon campus, Buzz the Hornet, aided by Interim President John W. Mills, slowly crawled out of their nest to present their forecast. And just what did Buzz determine — will we have six more weeks of winter (which our Outdoor Education, Leadership, and Tourism students and all skiers and riders hope for) or will we enjoy the early spring weather that finds the Disc Golf course and mountain bike trails buzzing in March?

The answer, according to Atmospheric Sciences student and Buzz’s weather assistant Matt Condon, Buzz saw their shadow! Which means we’re all in for six more weeks of beautiful northern winter weather.

Buzz’s first year on the job went pretty smoothly, considering it was a bit of a shock to their system. Lucky for them, it was a sunny and mild day for early February!

Watch out Phil — Buzz is coming for your job and has real climate science and forecasters on their support team!