[HN Gopher] Show HN: Groundhog-day.com - structured groundhog data
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Show HN: Groundhog-day.com - structured groundhog data
Over the last year, I've worked on aggregating Groundhog data,
including predictions, location, and a cute photo. Welcome to
GROUNDHOG-DAY.com: The clean and breathable, machine-readable, all-
regional data source for Groundhog Day forecasts. Find your fave
groundhog, peruse past predictions, or trek the continent-wide
Groundhog Map. Includes enterprise-grade API for corporate use
cases.
Author : pcraig3
Score : 69 points
Date : 2023-02-02 17:53 UTC (5 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (groundhog-day.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (groundhog-day.com)
| passwordoops wrote:
| Really nice! Next level would be to see correctness of the
| prediction. I guess something like onset of 5 or 7-day moving
| average temperature above freezing for each locale
| leipert wrote:
| Great work: I think this is missing some data crunching on past
| predictions. Were the predictions correct or not?
| pcraig3 wrote:
| Accuracy data is basically impossible to get. You have to get
| weather data year by year for different regions of the country
| and then compare them to historical ranges. It will basically
| mean 10x the work I've done already. It's open-source though,
| so it could be that someone wants to collaborate with me in
| future :D
| simonw wrote:
| Made my own map: brew install datasette sqlite-
| utils curl 'https://groundhog-
| day.com/api/v1/predictions?year=2023' | \ jq
| .predictions | \ sqlite-utils insert day.db groundhogs
| - --flatten sqlite-utils convert day.db groundhogs \
| groundhog_coordinates --multi 'return { "latitude":
| value.split(",")[0], "longitude": value.split(",")[1]
| }' datasette install datasette-cluster-map
| datasette day.db
|
| Screenshot of the map here:
| https://fedi.simonwillison.net/@simon/109796889732947452
|
| sqlite-utils docs here: https://sqlite-
| utils.datasette.io/en/stable/cli.html
| [deleted]
| ankaAr wrote:
| Well well well, that is what I call a service.
|
| There is an API for this extremely useful data?
| pcraig3 wrote:
| Absolutely: https://groundhog-day.com/api
| w-ll wrote:
| I didn't know there were multiple groundhogs. Very eclectic idea.
| pcraig3 wrote:
| I didn't know there were so many, and I also didn't know that
| so many of them aren't real groundhogs.
| chungy wrote:
| Same here, I mostly know about the event because of the Bill
| Murray movie.
| johnfn wrote:
| Remarkable how in the 1910s and 1920s we had uninterrupted
| stretches of extra winters decades in a row, but now early spring
| dominates. Clear evidence of global warming.
| pcraig3 wrote:
| That's a huge insight to take away. Nevertheless, we still have
| climate-denier groundhogs consistently predicting winter and
| being wrong about it ( _cough Phil cough_ ).
|
| Hopefully, this site helps shine a light on these unscientific
| groundhogs.
| beardog wrote:
| Seems long winters being the norm died in the 80s
| pcraig3 wrote:
| I have a pet theory on this.
|
| I think, as a local councillor/politician, you show up to a
| Groundhog Day event and there are like 50 people there hoping
| you say it's gonna be spring soon, and so you just tell them
| that it will be.
|
| However, it doesn't seem to be holding for this year, where
| most have said longer winter so far: https://groundhog-
| day.com/predictions/2023
| eigenrick wrote:
| I'm going to need to see success rating for each groundhog. How
| often do they correctly predict the weather?
|
| Also how often did their right or wrong predictions contradict
| the majority?
| pcraig3 wrote:
| > How often do they correctly predict the weather?
|
| I mentioned this in another comment, but accuracy data is
| basically impossible to get. You have to get weather data year
| by year for different regions of the country and then compare
| them to historical ranges. Means a pretty huge amount of
| trawling through data, not a lot of payoff.
|
| > Also how often did their right or wrong predictions
| contradict the majority?
|
| This one, you can get a little more easily. Check out the
| predictions page to see them grouped by year:
| https://groundhog-day.com/predictions
|
| If you are looking up a specific groundhog, you can see how
| often they align/differ from the plurality.
| well_actulily wrote:
| This is great, but I wish I could filter out all the plush
| animals.
| pcraig3 wrote:
| Interesting point, I've got a page up that is the reverse of
| that here: https://groundhog-day.com/alternative-groundhogs
|
| On the other hand, there is an API as well, so you can build a
| custom groundhog dashboard if you like.
| MarcScott wrote:
| One groundhog won't be reporting in -
| https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/fred-la-marmotte-die...
| dfxm12 wrote:
| This happened last year in NJ:
| https://www.nj.com/news/2022/01/njs-weather-predicting-groun...
|
| The organizers claimed they had a replacement lined up for
| today, but blame an unnamed state statue for not actually being
| able to use them: https://www.nj.com/news/2023/01/groundhog-
| day-to-be-without-...
| avarun wrote:
| note for others confused by "statue", the organizers are
| blaming an unspecified state _statute_ for not being able to
| use their new groundhog
| binarymax wrote:
| When Chekhov saw the long winter, he saw a winter bleak and
| dark and bereft of hope. Yet we know that winter is just
| another step in the cycle of life.
|
| RIP Fred la marmotte
| capableweb wrote:
| Does groundhogs not exists outside of North America (or more
| specifically, Canada and the US) or is the data just harder to
| gather?
| Freak_NL wrote:
| Not naturally no, according to Wikipedia. Plenty of other
| marmots though (like Murmeltiere in the European Alps),
| although I don't think those can predict the seasons.
| pcraig3 wrote:
| Nobody else seems to do this outside of the US and Canada.
| binarymax wrote:
| Really nice!
|
| I'm confused though. The placard says 'early spring' for 2023,
| but clicking on it, the split is 26/29 early spring vs long
| winter. Am I reading this wrong or is the placard wrong?
| pcraig3 wrote:
| You, sir, have identified a bug. Just pushed an update to fix
| this.
|
| If you look at the past 3 years, they have all been "early
| spring": https://groundhog-day.com/predictions
|
| So the logic that was there didn't actually work properly, but
| I never noticed it before.
| jay-barronville wrote:
| This topic isn't something I care about, but I did want to say,
| great work on the design -- I have a thing for minimalist designs
| like this.
| pcraig3 wrote:
| Thanks! It was a fun project for sure: no ads and nobody trying
| to get me to make it look more conventional.
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(page generated 2023-02-02 23:00 UTC)