Let's start February by taking a quick look back at last month's weather. It won't come as any surprise to learn that January was warm. Just how warm is anybody's guess! The weather instruments located near Belvedere Castle suffered a power failure over the weekend so the Weather Service missed out on several days worth of temperature readings. Looking at surrounding stations our best guess is that Central Park was five degrees warmer than normal. While that's not warm enough to crack January's top ten it is the eleventh straight month that's been warmer than average. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg has had a tough month: he's received non-stop criticism over the city's poor handling of the first huge snowstorm of the winter. It's gotten so stressful for the Mayor, his neuroses have been running wild through City Hall, and he's even started breaking out his panic sweaters. But finally, he's getting some loving from one non-voting segment of his constituents: children. “Every single kid in New York loves Bloomberg today,” said mom Jodi Nagel. more ›

At 7:30 a.m. Staten Island Chuck very reluctantly came out of his winter home and did not see his shadow, therefore predicting that Spring is just around the corner. However, over in Pennsylvania, Puxsutawney Phil predicted more winter! Maybe a robot would be more accurate. The two have differed before, but for the record, Chuck has had correct predictions 80% of the time since the 1980s. more ›

What's warm in the middle and cold at both ends? January 2010! Overall last month's rollercoaster of a temperature ride wound up being four-tenths of a degree warmer than normal. Precipitation was only half the January average with a lousy 2.1 inches of snow. more ›

Tomorrow is Groundhog Day, the day we rely on furry animals to predict whether we'll see another 6 weeks of winter or an early spring. Sure, Punxsatawney, PA-residing Phil has been celebrated in the 1993 classic, Groundhog Day, but New Yorkers have Staten Island Chuck, who spends half the week at the Staten Island Zoo and the other half at his keeper's house (he commutes by public transit!). more ›

Several hundred people, including Gothamist, gathered at the Staten Island Zoo early this morning to hear a well-fed rodent's forecast for the remainder of the winter. After the Tottenville High School chorus entertained the crowd local dignitaries and elected officials were introduced. Then, the moment everyone was waiting for. A Brownie troop member was enlisted to coax Staten Island Chuck out of his house with the aid of a few peanuts. more ›

Every year, we look forward to Groundhog Day for the appearances of Punxsutawney Phil, Staten Island Chuck, and the inevitable multiple screenings of the movie Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray. But we also love Groundhog Day because it means that WNBC newswoman Sue Simmons is prodded into doing her impression of a groundhog. We love a beautiful woman not afraid to make herself look ridiculous--like when she fell off her chair and recovered somewhat gracefully. The video was recorded yesterday, as Sue has today--Groundhog Day--off from work. more ›

Our snowless, warm January is being followed by a very wet start to February. Expect rain and sleet throughout the day today. It's the dreaded wintry mix! We may even have a bit of thunder this afternoon. Actually, the weather freezing rain north of the city is making conditions dangerous from Connecticut through the lower Hudson Valley into northern New Jersey. Further upstate there's an ice storm warning in effect through 5 p.m. Within the city the ground isn't frozen so freezing rain won't happen here. Showers should continue until midnight or so. more ›

Hoorah! WNBC has a clip of Sue Simmons's Groundhog Impression, 2007 edition from yesterday's newscast. How did the WNBC anchor start imitating woodland creatures?

Sue says her imitation of the groundhog face actually began before she came to New York, when she was a reporter in New Haven. On Groundhog Day one year, she ended a live shot with the groundhog face, and for weeks, people kept coming up to her asking for a repeat performace.

The groundhog survey says we'll have an early spring. Staten Island Chuck, along with Punxsutawney Phil (pictured above), predicted an early spring. However, Holtsville Hal on Long Island saw his shadow for six more weeks of winter, but we'll assume he just woke up on the wrong side of the burrow this morning. As for today's weather, we'll have another post up about that in a bit. more ›

Wednesday night, WNBC invited a bunch of bloggers to its first NYC Blogger Summit. Why? As Anil Dash put it, to "engage bloggers and encourage them to provide information and resources to the station's news-gathering efforts, in exchange for credit and exposure." more ›

, don't subject us to this. more ›

It is often said that baseball is a game of inches. There are many times during a game when an inch or two difference in the location of the ball would change a strike to a ball, a swing and a miss to a hit, a double to a home run, a catch from a error. more ›

These days, the most famous Staten Islander we know is Staten Island Chuck (sorry, Molinari!), the Staten Island Zoo's groundhog. Groundhog Day is just three weeks away, and the NY Times looks at the preparation the zoo and Chuck are doing in the run-up. Cue the montage sequence of Staten Island Chuck in training! more ›

Meh. We're about to enter a stretch of meh weather. An upper-level disturbance tonight and a warm front that will stall out as a stationary front over the weekend will usher in several days of warmer, yet off-and-on drizzlyrainyfoggycloudy weather. Warm fronts are typically weak. The storm driving this one is far away in the Ohio Valley. That adds up to a front that can't do much of anything. Until a bigger storm comes along the front is going to meander north and south for a few days. more ›

Staten Island Chuck, NYC's own weather-prognosticating groundhog, did not see his shadow this morning which means an early spring. And in keeping with the trend in the past few years, Punxsutawny Phil differed, seeing his shadow and dooming the Northeast to more cold weather. Well, if it's cold weather the way it has been the past few weeks, we'll take it! What's sad is that apparently people were booing Phil's forecast - he's just a groundhog, people! He rather spend his time digging up holes in your yard than working out the meteorology. more ›

Ever since bringing back recycling last year, now the Mayor is all over it! One of the bills Mayor Bloomberg signed yesterday (besides the rowdy fan one) was one to promote cell phone battery recycling. Yes, beware of leaking cadmium, lead and mercury from your old batteries, kids. Of course the bill only applies to certain cell phone batteries, and the offenses range from fines for first offenses to jail time (three strikes, you're in lockup). Bloomberg says that now retailers "must accept used batteries back from consumers even if they purchased their batteries elsewhere." But the rest of the cell phone - that's up to you. So donate them to a charity like Collective Good. more ›

The Northeast sure looks cold in this true color image taken Monday by NASA's MODIS sensor (see the whole chilly image on the Earth Observatory). It looks cold because it is cold and it is going to be colder for the remainder of the week. Windy too! That old blowhard Mr. Wind Chill is going to be in town through Friday. Wind chill only pertains to exposed flesh, so you should be fine if you cover up all your body parts. more ›

Buy Groundhog Day on DVD. more ›

Grimes diplomatically says there have been many wonderful dining experiences, but does mention ones at L'Impero, Ilo, and Town in particular. According to the article, Grimes will not be working on a food-related beat, so Gothamist would like to suggest him for writing about animals in the city, as he demonstrated aptitude for it with his book about his city chicken, Chicken, in My Fine Feathered Friend. more ›

- Fametracker's Fame Audit of William James Murray: We second their thought, "Anyone who will go into detail, on the record, about how much he loathes Chevy Chase is someone whose friend we would like to be." more ›

Jim Holt's article about the idea of parallel universes (an article we starting to try to summarize but got very confused...read it for yourself) struck a chord in Gothamist because we constantly wonder "What if" and "There's got to be another version of us out there doing worse." While an early instance of wondering about another life one could live is A Christmas Carol, it's also very Choose Your Own Adventure. That's probably why we like the Bizarro Jerry episode of Seinfeld. Or any number of films that offer other possibilities: Sliding Doors, The Double Life of Veronique, and one of Gothamist's favorites, Groundhog Day. more ›