BREAKING NEWS: SIX MORE WEEKS OF WINTER!!
Punxsutawney Phil did see his shadow this morning. This could mean six more weeks of winter.
Around 7:15 a.m. EST this morning, amateur weather prognosticator Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, which could mean six more weeks of winter.
The proclamation was made in front of thousands of onlookers waiting in temperatures in the upper teens in the normally sleepy Pennsylvania hamlet of Punxsutawney, home for the last 139 years to the annual February 2nd event.
In years when the groundhog doesn’t see his shadow, like in 2024, the legend says that there will be an early spring. This is only the 22nd time in over 130 years of record keeping that Phil hasn’t seen his shadow!
The tradition of Groundhog Day is believed to have evolved from a German celebration called Candlemas. In a tradition that now shadows the Groundhog tradition, if the sun made an appearance on the mid-winter day and a hedgehog casts a shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter.
The Candlemas tradition was brought to Pennsylvania and the rest of the U.S. by German settlers in the 18th and early 19th century.
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Image: Groundhog Day from Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. (Anthony Quintano, February 2, 2013)