February 2,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood
Punxsutawney PA, Punxsutawney Phil, America’s most famous groundhog, and foremost weather rodent saw his shadow Friday morning, predicting six more weeks of winter.
With Groundhog Day festivities well underway in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, the groundhog known as Phil saw his shadow Friday morning, which, according to legend, means another six weeks of winter.
The 20-pound groundhog’s predictions have been accurate 39 percent of the time since the first Groundhog Day in 1887, according to StormFax.com. Phil has done slightly better in recent years, getting the forecast right 46 percent of the time since 1988.
However the average weather man or women prediction fairs far worse predicting 25 or the last 6 snow storms .
Jason Vigorito gives us some history (I’m biased on this one since it’s my hometown!) On this day in 1887, Groundhog Day, featuring a rodent meteorologist, was celebrated for the first time at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. According to tradition, if a groundhog comes out of its hole on this day and sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter weather; no shadow means an early spring. In 1993, the movie “Groundhog Day”, starring Bill Murray, popularized the usage of “groundhog day” to mean something that is repeated over and over. Today, tens of thousands of people converge on Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney each February 2 to witness Phil’s prediction. The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club hosts a three-day celebration featuring entertainment and activities. Also as a sidenote, the Punxsutawney Area School District is the only district to have the day off as a holiday, since most of the students played hooky anyway before the policy went into effect.
