It looks like this year’s game might have less fan fare than a groundhog. According to meteorology, Willie has been accurate only 37 per cent of the time, but organizers will tell you he is right 90 per cent of the time.
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On Feb. 2, 1886, the publication declared that, as of press-time, the groundhog – which it called “Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators, and Weather Prophet Extraordinary” – had not seen its shadow in the “Weather Capital of the World”. No shadow indicates an early spring.
The Climate Prediction Center is forecasting a warmer than normal February for most of the U.S. That warmth will continue for Florida and much of the South through to New England into April.
If Groundhogs aren’t good at predicting weather with their shadows, what are they good at? The famous groundhog – there’s been only one, according to club members, who credit secret “groundhog punch” for the creature’s longevity – was originally named Br’er Groundhog but renamed Punxsutawney Phil after the British King Phillip.
Maybe he’s used that extra time to ideal his “Groundhogese”, a language only understood by the president of the group’s Inner Circle. Since the holiday made its first official trek to Gobbler’s Knob, where the shadow ceremony takes place, Phil has seen his shadow more than 102 times. In fact every state in the contiguous US had an above-average March temperature. In the ensuing 130 years, individuals have gathered in Pennsylvania and other areas around the United States to find out if the groundhog will see his shadow. Perhaps the truth lies in your level of optimism and dedication to Groundhog Day. However, instead of a groundhog they used a badger or sacred bear to foresee the weather.
As NJ.com reported, the tradition of the modern Groundhog Day dates all the way back to 1887, when a local newsman turned a popular column into a local tradition.
Concerning Candlemas Day, “superstition held that if the weather was fair, the second half of winter would be stormy and cold”, according to Stormfax.
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A man in Saskatchewan, Canada has been looking at pig spleens every fall to predict the weather for the upcoming winter.
