Six more weeks of winter, says Punxsutawney Phil

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In temperatures of almost -10ºC, a group of hundreds of faithful onlookers saw the groundhog weatherman “Phil” predict another six weeks of winter this morning in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. The tradition seems to have originated in Germany and was taken to the US by early settlers.

They believed that if hibernating animals saw their own shadow when emerging to check the weather on Candlemas Day – halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Vernal Equinoxe – then winter would last another six weeks. No shadow meant an early Spring.

The tradition was made famous in the rest of the world by the 1993 comedy Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray as a weatherman who lives the same Groundhog Day over and over again.

So is Phil a good predictor? According to his keepers, the Groundhog Club Inner Circle (those official-looking gentlemen in the photo there), he has been right every year since 1887. However, facts on record show a figure of only 39% correct predictions …

more links

Punxsutawney Groundhog Club

Groundhog Day  – Wikipedia

Groundhog Day (movie) at IMDB

Strange Random Groundhog Quote:

The groundhog is like most other prophets; it delivers its prediction and then disappears – Bill Vaughn

Punxsutawney Phil