Groundhog Day casts shadow
A furry critter in a western Pennsylvania town has predicted six more weeks of winter during an annual Groundhog Day celebration.
People gathered yesterday at Gobbler’s Knob as members of Punxsutawney Phil’s “inner circle” summoned the groundhog from his tree stump at dawn to learn if he has seen his shadow — and they say he did. According to folklore, if he sees his shadow there will be six more weeks of winter. If he doesn’t, spring comes early.
The annual event originated from a German legend about a furry rodent.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration compared Punxsutawney Phil’s forecast to the national weather the last 10 years and found “on average, Phil has gotten it right 40 per cent of the time”.
This year, Phil’s prediction came during a week when a mess of ice, sleet and snow has lingered across much of the southern US.
The spring-heralding (or springdelaying) small animal has taken firm root in some swaths of American culture. And while Phil and his Pennsylvania ilk are the most celebrated, there is an astonishingly broad selection of other critters who have felt the need (or, at least, their handlers have) to put reputations on the line to “predict” meteorology in the dead of winter.
Several other famous groundhogs, an aardvark, armadillo and a quahog apparently predict spring could be around the corner.
At the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans, Leia the aardvark poked her nose in a termite mound labeled “spring”.
In Texas, Bee Cave Bob the armadillo was released on a cloudy day, meaning there is no shadow to cast, and that spring is coming.
While a conch living underwater in a Florida Keys aquarium confirmed Phil’s prediction of six more weeks of winter weather.
And in a turn of events, Fred la marmotte, another weatherpredicting rodent in Quebec, died on Thursday — leaving the question of whether winter will last yet to be determined.