PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (AP) â , the legendary groundhog that lives in a tree stump in rural Pennsylvania, has issued the most highly anticipated weather forecast of the season: of winter.
The groundhogâs forecast was announced Monday by the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club in rural Pennsylvania.
When Phil sees his shadow, it means six more weeks of winter. If he hadnât seen his shadow, that would have foretold an early arrival of spring.
This event at Gobblerâs Knob dates back over a century and has ties to ancient European farming traditions. The festivities have grown since the 1993 movie âGroundhog Day.â
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Pennsylvania groundhogs weigh in
In other parts of Pennsylvania, where groundhog lodges that celebrate an annual winter forecast proliferated a century ago, Punxsutawney Philâs prediction was both confirmed and contradicted.
Grundsau Lodsch Nummer Sechzen am Yahden outside Allentown, or Groundhog Lodge No. 16 on the Jordan for those who donât speak Pennsylvania Dutch, made a prediction of six more weeks of winter.
Octoraro Orphie, a stuffed groundhog in Quarryville, in the heart of Lancaster Countyâs Amish region, is said to have not seen his shadow and therefore predicted an early spring.
Mount Joy Minnie in Mount Joy also predicted warmer weather on the way. Also in Lancaster County, plush groundhog M.T. Parker said itâs going to be six more weeks of winter.
Poor Richard, a stuffed groundhog in York, not only is said to have predicted more winter, he also forecast the Seattle Seahawks will win the Super Bowl on Sunday.
Animal weather predictions are split despite Philâs forecast
More winter has a slight edge in the Groundhog Day predictions assembled at , a 15-13 lead over âearly spring.â
Staten Island Chuck in New York joins Punxsutawney Phil in predicting six more weeks of ice and snow. Others in the winter camp are Concord Casimir, a cat in Cleveland; Chuckles the groundhog and Scramble the Duck in Connecticut; and Holtsville Hal, a New York groundhog.
Warm weather forecasts have been lodged by Maple, a groundhog in California; and Cedar, a groundhog in Illinois.
Washingtonâs Potomac Phil predicts 6 more months of political gridlock
The taxidermied animal was displayed in the capitalâs Dupont Circle neighborhood where it was announced that the deceased marmot had seen his shadow, and six more months of political gridlock. While Potomac Phil hasnât been prognosticating nearly as long as his counterpart in Gobbler’s Knob, he has since predicted every year since his tenure began in 2012.
Split vote among groundhogs and others regarding weather
Michael Venos, who tracks Groundhog Day predictions at , said the early results Monday indicated a split verdict.
Agreeing with Punxsutawney Phil that more winter weather is on the way this year are General Beauregard Lee, a Georgia groundhog; and groundhog mascot Dover Doug in Pennsylvania.
Also in the âmore winterâ camp are That Dog Named Gidget, a Havanese in New York; and opossum Birmingham Jill in Alabama.
Those predicting an early spring include groundhogs Buckeye Chuck in Ohio; Fig Newton in North Carolina; and Shubenacadie Sam in Nova Scotia. They are joined by Benny the Bass, a fish in Ohio; and Pennsylvania ferret Jessup Giuseppe.
Thatâs just the start â Venos expects to tally about 100 events.
Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, predicts 6 more weeks of winter
Punxsutawney Phil is predicting six more weeks of winter after his handlers said he saw his shadow outside his tree stump on Gobblerâs Knob.
The groundhogâs forecast was announced Monday by the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club in rural Pennsylvania.
When Phil sees his shadow, it means six more weeks of winter. If he hadnât seen his shadow, that would have foretold an early arrival of spring.
Cold weather greets Phil and the crowd of revelers
Icy temperatures Monday kept the crowd bundled up â by all accounts the mercury remained in the low single digits in the hours before the prognostication.
Dance music and probably a desire to stay warm kept people on the main stage dancing â including a cold looking beauty queen.
The Groundhog Day traditions include festive hats â and on Monday they were helping stave off the brutal cold.
The crowd and performers danced to tunes such as âShoutâ And âSunday Finestâ in the cold weather.
It was 2 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 17 degrees Celsius) out, according to the National Âé¶ččÙÍű Service.
Phil was expected out soon.
âWake up Phil!â
The band âJuvenile Characteristicsâ sang âWake up, Phil!â
They called out, âLetâs Wake Him Up!â
It is a Groundhog Day-themed song, often used to wake up Punxsutawney Phil at Gobblerâs Knob.
The group then led the crowd chanting, âPhil, Phil, Phil,â about 15 minutes before Phil was expected to come out.
Meanwhile, a video said to have been produced by âthe wizard of hogâ got the crown ready for Philâs imminent arrival.
Along with classic rock songs and the stadium anthem âSeven Nation Army,â it also included exhortations such as âall year weâve trained for thisâ and âthis means nothing and yet it means everything.â
Inner circle members arrive at Gobblers Knob
You have to be a resident of the Punxsutawney Area School District to become a member of the groundhog clubâs inner circle â the tuxedo and top hat-wearing crew that runs the show.
They all have nicknames that befit their status â Shingle Shaker, Moonshine, Big Chill, Frostbite, Rainmaker, Iceman, Downpour, Fair Âé¶ččÙÍűman and Daybreaker, among them.
Openings come up infrequently, and the club looks for people who are willing to make the significant time commitment it takes to care for Phil and his family and put on the massive yearly event.
Politicians are drawn to Philâs big day
U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick was among the political figures drawn to the Gobblerâs Knob stage on Monday — noting his mother was from Punxsutawney.
Also spotted were state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, who is currently pursuing the governorship, and top state Senate Republicans Joe Pittman and Kim Ward.
Meteorologist sees more cold weather ahead
AccuÂé¶ččÙÍűâs chief long-range weather expert, meteorologist Paul Pastelok, said some clouds moved into Punxsutawney overnight, bringing flurries he called âmicroflakes.â
Pastelok said the coming week will remain cold, with below average temperatures in the eastern United States.
âWeâve still got some more snow and ice to contend withâ in the mid-Atlantic, Ohio River Valley and Northeastern U.S., he said.
As for long-range forecasts, Pastelok said: âThe farther out you get the accuracy is not specifically on point all the time, but we can get trends.â
Pastelok was in the State College area, about an hour from Punxsutawney.
Rooting for an early spring
Lisa Gibson was in Punxsutawney to attend Groundhog Day for the 10th time, wearing a lighted hat that resembled the tree stump from which Phil would emerge shortly after daybreak.
âOh man, it just breaks up the doldrums of winter,â said Gibson, accompanied by her husband — dressed up as Elvis Presley — and teenage daughter. âItâs like Halloween and New Yearâs Eve all wrapped up into one holiday.â
Gibson, a resident of Pittsburgh, was rooting for Phil to not see his shadow and therefore predict an early start to spring. She was there to âhave a good time, and bring on that early spring.â
Birthday celebration at Gobblerâs Knob
Among the revelers streaming to the site early Monday was India Kirssin, there to celebrate her 27th birthday with a group drawn from Ohio and Washington, D.C.
Kirssin said it was her second Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney — the first was on her 10th birthday.
âEverybodyâs in a good mood, it seems like,â Kirssen said, holding a customized sign.
She floated the plan to return this year back in November: âIt all came together last minute.â
Yep, some people eat groundhogs
Groundhogs are herbivores that are themselves edible to humans, although they are not widely consumed.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission says about 36,000 hunters reported killing more than 200,000 groundhogs last year.
Game Commission spokesperson Travis Lau found groundhog a bit stinky to clean and thick-skinned, but âactually really goodâ and âmore like beef than venison.â
Some cooks advise that groundhogs are best taken when they are young and after clover is in bloom, since a clover diet is thought to improve the meatâs taste.
Texans will be looking to âBee Cave Bobâ for their prediction
A couple hundred people are expected to gather Monday afternoon in Bee Cave, located just west of Austin, to watch an armadillo named Bee Cave Bob.
Mike Burke, who helped start the annual tradition, believes an armadillo âknows a whole lot more about whatâs going on than some rodent.â
Their ceremony also includes watching to see if the animal sees his shadow, but they arenât opposed to improvising a little to make sure the crowd goes home happy. âA lot of the times when itâs been kind of a crummy winter, weâll predict early spring no matter what,â he said.
Philâs accuracy rate is only 40%, according to the NOAA
Some well-meaning efforts have sought to determine Philâs accuracy, but what âsix weeks of winterâ means is debatable. By all accounts, the furry prognosticator predicts more winter far more often than he predicts an early spring.
And claims that a groundhog has or has not seen its shadow â and that itâs able to communicate that to a human â are also fair territory for skeptics and the humor-impaired.
Among the skeptics is the National Centers for Environmental Information, within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The government agency last year with U.S. national temperatures over the prior decade and concluded he was right only 40% of the time.
Why Punxsutawney?
Punxsutawney is an area that Pennsylvania Germans settled â and in the late 1880s started celebrating the holiday by picnicking, hunting and eating groundhogs.
Members of Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, organized in 1899, care for Phil at a customized space beside Punxsutawney Memorial Library â where thereâs a window with a view into the creatureâs burrow.
Similar events take place throughout North America and beyond
The annual ritual at Gobblerâs Knob goes back more than a century, with ties to ancient farming traditions in Europe. Punxsutawneyâs festivities have grown considerably since the 1993 movie âGroundhog Day,â starring Bill Murray.
Groundhog Day falls on Feb. 2, the midpoint between the shortest, darkest day of the year on the winter solstice and the spring equinox. Itâs a time of year that also figures in the Celtic calendar and the .
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