Groundhog Day 2021: Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, predicts six more weeks of winter

by



[ad_1]

That is, if you want to get your weather forecast from a groundhog in Pennsylvania.

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow Tuesday morning and, as legend has it, that means six more weeks of thick coats and mittens.

Phil was woken up at 7:25 am and made his prediction in front of about 16 members of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club at Gobblerer’s Knob.

“Now when I turn to see, there is a perfect shadow of me. There will still be six winter weeks,” one of Phil’s masters announced on his behalf at the ceremony.

The celebration, which is over a century old, looked a little different this year. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, there were no crowds or guests present. It was broadcast live.
Groundhog Club manager AJ Dereume holds Punxsutawney Phil, the weather forecasting groundhog, while Vice President Tom Dunkel reads the scroll at the 135th Groundhog Day celebration on the Gobbler Button in Punxsutawney.

He’s been here for a while

The first celebration of Punxsutawney Groundhog Day was recorded in 1886, according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club website.

Phil is not new to the forecasting game. The ceremony has been taking place since 1887.

Scientifically speaking, winter will officially end at the equinox on March 20, regardless of what Phil predicts. But Mother Nature doesn’t always follow the schedule.

In fact, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, and South Dakota actually have their snowiest time of the year after Groundhog Day.

He’s not very good at it

For the past two years in a row, Phil hasn’t seen his shadow, predicting an early spring.

In the past, Phil has been much more likely to see his shadow than not. He would have seen his shadow 104 times, but not just 20 times. Statistically speaking, Phil has been forecasting correct about 50% of the time over the past 10 years.

Phil is not alone in his prognosis skills. In fact, there are many more like him.

He has competition

Ohio, North Carolina, New York, Georgia, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Illinois, Maryland, West Virginia, and Michigan all have their own groundhogs to use for predictions.

There’s also Unadilla Bill from Nebraska, who has one of the highest accuracy ratings in the prediction business.

That means if you don’t like Phil’s predictions, there’s a good chance one of the other groundhogs is predicting something you like.

CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar contributed to this report.

[ad_2]

Source link