Friday, 26 April, 2019

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  • Groundhog predicts early spring, but don't get too excited

Groundhog predicts early spring, but don't get too excited

Groundhog predicts early spring, but don't get too excited Groundhog predicts early spring, but don't get too excited
Kristine Garrett | 03 February, 2019, 07:39

Just a year ago, many were upset with the groundhog when he predicted six more weeks of winter.

In reality, Phil's prediction is decided ahead of time by the group on Gobbler's Knob, a tiny hill just outside Punxsutawney.

As the legend goes, if Phil wakes from his winter sleep and sees his shadow, he warns of six more weeks of bad weather and scampers back into his burrow. The news arrived on Saturday, which marks Groundhog Day in 2019.

This year's prediction was rare.

Here's some news to melt away the winter blues: New York's soothsaying rodent, Staten Island Chuck, predicted an early start to spring Saturday morning at the annual Groundhog Day event. There is a bit of a thaw ahead in the USA, according to the Weather Channel, but more freezing temperatures loom in the coming weeks as well, and it seems like winter is far from over.

Tradition in Germany was to look to the hedgehog on February 2 to judge by its behavior the coming weather.

The tradition was part of the Christian celebration of Candlemas Day, which marked a halfway point between the winter solstice and spring equinox. On Candlemas, the clergy would bless and give out candles to last congregants for the rest of winter.

So did the groundhog see his shadow?

Though Punxsutawney Phil is the most well-known, other states celebrate with their own groundhogs too.

It was a chilly 10 degrees Fahrenheit in Gobbler's Knob, Pennsylvania where 27 years ago Bill Murray stood in the same audience for the well-known movie. "Phil! Phil!" But predicting the weather, that's my song; for 133 years, I've never been wrong.

Historically, they also ate groundhog meat, but this practice has since died out.

According to members of the Groundhog Club, Phil, after making the prediction, chatters to the club's president in "Groundhogese".

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