Groundhog predicts weather since 1887
Happy Groundhog Day! While it's still to early at this writing to tell you whether or not Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, let's set the record straight right quick about why anybody cares.
Groundhog Day comes around like clockwork every February 2, a day also known in the Christian calendar as Candlemas Day. European tradition has long held (as evidenced by the rhyme in today's Daily Quotes section at the left) that a bright, sunny Candlemas Day forecast a continuation of winter, while a cloudy or rainy Candlemas meant an quick end to the cold weather.
Europeans looked to different animals as Candlemas weather prognosticators, including badgers, foxes, and even bears. In parts of Germany, Groundhog Day is celebrated as “Dachstag” or Badger Day.
In the classic novel Les Miserables, Victor Hugo addresses the idea of bears as the weather oracle: “...it was the second of February, that ancient Candlemas-day whose treacherous sun, the precursor of six weeks of cold, inspired Matthew Laensberg with the two lines, which have deservedly become classic: 'Qu'il luise ou qu'il luiserne, L'ours rentre en sa caverne.' (Let it gleam or let it glimmer, The bear goes back into his cave.)"
A member of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club hoists Punxsutawney Phil high during his appearance in 2021.
In Ireland, a tradition on Feb. 1 – Brigid's Day – holds that hedgehogs are the weather forecasters, but those little guys do things backward. If a hedgehog comes out, looks around and returns to his burrow, cold weather will continue; but if he stays out, it means mild weather is on its way.
The first “official” Groundhog Day in America's Groundhog Capital – Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania – ws in 1887, when a group of townsfolk went to Gobbler's Knob – a part of that town – to consult the groundhog about the upcoming weather. The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club formed in 1899, and in 1961, the groundhog received his moniker “Phil,” possibly a reference to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
Last year in Punxsutawney, Phil reportedly saw his shadow, forecasting six more weeks of winter.