Did Punxsutawney Phil See His Shadow?
Going back to 1887, or possibly earlier, the community of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, has been looking to the whims of a groundhog for what to expect for the rest of the winter season.
The eyes of the nation take interest in this tradition, as the groundhog’s “prediction” affects everyone…
This year, the groundhog, known as Punxsutawney Phil, emerged from his hole on Gobbler’s Knob on February 2, and he selected one of two scrolls: one scroll corresponded with him seeing his shadow, and the other with not seeing his shadow.
Reading from the scroll, the following was proclaimed to the hundreds in attendance at the sunrise festivities, “Now, on this February 2, Punxsutawney Phil, the ‘Seer of Seers,’ ‘Prognosticator of all Prognosticators,’ was awakened from his wintery nap at dawn on Gobbler’s Knob. Phil looked to the skies, and then, speaking in Groundhogese, directed President [Tom] Dunkel to the proper scroll, which reads.”
Continuing, the scroll read:
“It’s my great honor to answer your annual call, so I rise again this morning to greet you all, but today, I wake thinking of numbers and time. America turns 250, and I’m at least 139. Let’s celebrate all, young, old, babies, or millennials, and kick off America’s semiquincentennial. We look to the future and not just the past, so I guess this party could use a forecast.”
Many traditions and observances in the United States this year will be accompanied by an acknowledgement of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, with local communities receiving state and federal funds for America 250 celebrations.
Then, the prediction was declared, with the scroll reading, “It is my job, this February 2, to look to the skies and report back to you that there is a shadow here on my ground — six more weeks of winter abound!”
With six more weeks of winter, this prediction was fittingly made at 7:25 a.m. as it was -1 degrees in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.
While the prediction bears no weight on the keeping of calendars, it is supposed to point to whether it will be warmer earlier than the shift to spring (which begins on March 20), or if it will be colder for a longer period of time.
Watch Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction, here:
