Groundhog Season Starts Today!!

Groundhog Day! Eek he saw his shadow, 6 more weeks of winter


Started in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, in 1887; tradition says that if the groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, comes out of his hole after a long winter sleep and sees his shadow, it is six more weeks of bad weather; if it is a shadow-less day, spring is near.

Groundhog Day prediction 2013: Did Punxsutawney Phil see his shadow?

Groundhog Day prediction 2013: Did Punxsutawney Phil see his shadow?

Famous prognosticating groundhog Punxsutawney Phil made his annual debut on Gobbler's Knob in the small western Pennsylvania borough early Saturday morning, and he didn't see his shadow.

According to legend, that means an early spring for us humans.


Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, U.S.

Groundhog Day (Pennsylvania German: Grundsaudaag, Murmeltiertag) is a day celebrated on February 2.
According to folklore;

if it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day, then spring will come early;

if it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly see its shadow and retreat back into its burrow, and the winter weather will continue for six more weeks.

Modern customs of the holiday involve celebrations, where early morning festivals are held to watch the groundhog emerging from its burrow.
In southeastern Pennsylvania, Groundhog Lodges (Grundsow Lodges) celebrate the holiday with fersommlinge, social events in which food is served, speeches are made, and one or more g'spiel (plays or skits) are performed for entertainment. The Pennsylvania German dialect is the only language spoken at the event, and those who speak English pay a penalty, usually in the form of a nickel, dime, or quarter per word spoken, with the money put into a bowl in the center of the table.
The largest Groundhog Day celebration is held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Groundhog Day, already a widely recognized and popular tradition, received widespread attention as a result of the 1993 film Groundhog Day, which was set in Punxsutawney and portrayed Punxsutawney Phil.


The celebration, which began as a Pennsylvania German custom in southeastern and central Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries, has its origins in ancient European weather lore, wherein a badger or sacred bear is the prognosticator as opposed to a groundhog. It also bears similarities to the Pagan festival of Imbolc, the seasonal turning point of the Celtic calendar, which is celebrated on February 1 and also involves weather prognostication and to St. Swithun's Day in July.


The largest Groundhog Day celebration is held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, where crowds as large as 40,000 have gathered to celebrate the holiday since at least 1886. Other celebrations of note in Pennsylvania take place in Quarryville in Lancaster County, the Anthracite Region of Schuylkill County, the Sinnamahoning Valley and Bucks County.
Outside of Pennsylvania, notable celebrations occur in the Frederick and Hagerstown areas of Maryland, Marion, Ohio, the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, Woodstock, Illinois, Lilburn, Georgia, among the Amish populations of over twenty states and at Wiarton, Ontario, and Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. The University of Dallas in Irving, Texas, has Groundhog Day as an official university holiday and organizes a large-scale celebration every year. It is claimed to be the second largest Groundhog celebration in the world.


According to Groundhog Day organizers, the rodents' forecasts are accurate 75% to 90% of the time. However, a Canadian study for 13 cities in the past 30 to 40 years found that the weather patterns predicted on Groundhog Day were only 37% accurate over that time period—a value not significant compared to the 33% that could occur by chance. According to the StormFax Weather Almanac and records kept since 1887, Punxsutawney Phil's weather predictions have been correct 39% of the time. The National Climatic Data Center has described the forecasts as "on average, inaccurate" and stated that "The groundhog has shown no talent for predicting the arrival of spring, especially in recent years.

Groundhog Day 2012: Punxsutawney Phil Predicts Six More Weeks of Winter

Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney, Pa.

The world’s most famous groundhog emerged from his burrow and allegedly saw his shadow this morning, indicating that we’re in for six more weeks of winter.

The prescient critter weighs in on the fate of the nation’s weather each year on Feb. 2 at Gobbler’s Knob, a hill outside of Punxsutawney, Penn., about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. The tradition is largely ceremonial (naturally, since groundhogs can’t actually predict the weather), drawing thousands of people each year. Phil’s “prediction” is established in advance by the “Inner Circle,” otherwise known as the people who wear top hats and tuxedos and essentially serve as Phil’s security detail.

The ritual comes from an old German superstition that says if an animal who’s been hibernating does not cast a shadow on Feb. 2, which is the Christian holiday of Candlemas, then spring will arrive early. Among the predicted 15,000 to 18,000 spectators at this year’s ceremony was Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett.

Since the Groundhog Day tradition began in the 1880s, Phil has predicted a long winter about 100 times, eliciting disapproving groans each time. But given that recent temperatures in several parts of the country have been hovering around 50 degrees lately, NewsFeed doesn’t think six more weeks of winter sounds half bad.

Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/02/02/groundhog-day-2012-punxsutawney-phil-predicts-six-more-weeks-of-winter/#ixzz1lEy9VYWg


Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day is a holiday celebrated on February 2 in the United States and Canada. According to folklore, if it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day then spring will come early. If it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly see its shadow and retreat back into its burrow, and the winter weather will continue for six more weeks.

Modern customs of the holiday involve celebrations where early morning festivals are held to watch the groundhog emerging from its burrow. In southeastern Pennsylvania, Groundhog Lodges (Grundsow Lodges) celebrate the holiday with fersommlinge, social events in which food is served, speeches are made, and one or more g'spiel (plays or skits) are performed for entertainment. The Pennsylvania German dialect is the only language spoken at the event, and those who speak English pay a penalty, usually in the form of a nickel, dime or quarter, per word spoken, put into a bowl in the center of the table.

The largest Groundhog Day celebration is held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Groundhog Day, already a widely recognized and popular tradition, received widespread attention as a result of the eponymous 1993 film Groundhog Day, which was set in Punxsutawney and portrayed Punxsutawney Phil.

The celebration, which began as a Pennsylvania German custom in southeastern and central Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries, has its origins in ancient European weather lore, wherein a badger or sacred bear is the prognosticator as opposed to a groundhog. It also bears similarities to the Pagan festival of Imbolc, the seasonal turning point of the Celtic calendar, which is celebrated on February 1 and also involves weather prognostication and to St. Swithun's Day in July.

Is an Early Spring Coming?

El Niño and the Groundhog – Science and Folklore

Groundhog Day is coming! Will the groundhog see his shadow? If we were in the middle of an El Niño, he might just see it. Behind the rodent folklore is an odd bit of science trivia.

The Folklore—Look at the legend that has had folks trekking to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania since 1887. According to the folklore, if Phil the groundhog comes out of his hole and sees his shadow on February 2, it means there will be six more weeks of really crummy weather. If not, the rest of winter will melt away.
This legend is a holdover from European folklore. Since medieval times, people watched hedgehogs, badgers, bears or wolves to see if they saw their shadows on Candlemas, February 2. Once people settled in America, the local groundhogs took the place of bears, badgers and other critters.

According to the National Climate Data Center (NCDC), the tradition became publicized in 1887 when a newspaperman wrote about local hunters who celebrated February 2 by going on a groundhog hunt, followed by a jolly groundhog barbecue. He embellished the story with tales of the forecasting skills of Punxsutawney Phil. The rest is history.

The Science—When people continue a weather tradition, it is usually because it contains at least a small grain of truth. Historically the grain of truth for Groundhog’s Day in America is related to the El Niño.

The El Niño, an abnormally warm Tropical Pacific current, warps global wind and weather patterns. In North America it usually produces a warm winter starting along the West Coast and expanding eastward. By mid-winter, the warmth of a moderate to large El Niño usually reaches the Great Lakes and Midwest. Then, as the El Niño weakens, the warmth retreats and normal winter returns to the East.
In large parts of the East, this means an El Niño frequently produces a cool early winter, warm mid-winter and cool late winter. If a large rodent was wandering around in the relatively mild mid-winter, there might be enough sunshine to see his shadow. Then the El Niño would weaken and winter would literally come storming back.

It should be remembered that the Groundhog tradition persisted in America during the 1700s and 1800s, during the last stages of the “Little Ice Age.” What occasionally worked during those chilly times may not work now. The NCDC claims that since 1988, groundhogs have only had a 39% accuracy rate.

Accurate or not—it’s a great holiday and a good excuse for a party or barbecue.