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Gene J. Puskar / AP
Groundhog Club handler John Griffiths holds Punxsutawney Phil. This was the 126th celebration of Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney, Pa.
Yes!
Gene J. Puskar / AP
A huge crowd gathered at Gobbler's Knob, the tiny hill from which Phil makes his prediction on Feb. 2.
The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club made their decree Thursday morning in central Pennsylvania: Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, and there'll be six more weeks of winter. The announcement was met with boos from the enormous crowd gathered in Punxsutawney.
Folks in the East and elsewhere gave a collective shrug, as temperatures have been unseasonably warm. "But it's the winter we've been having, so that's like spring anyway," said Matt Lauer on TODAY after the news broke.
Jason Cohn / Reuters
Punxsutawney Phil Thursday morning. Sorry everyone; spring fever will have to wait.
"The daffodils are already in bloom in NW Mississippi," wrote Jackie Barnes Garrett on TODAY's Facebook page, where hundreds of people are weighing in. "We are already fighting mosquitoes and flies."
"Yesterday it was almost 60 degrees in Iowa," wrote Facebook commenter Letha Ann Alexander. But Sara LaPoint, from Colorado, has seen enough of this season. "I am SO done with snow and winter!" she wrote.
The Associated Press reports that the groundhog has seen his shadow 99 times since 1886; he's not seen it only 16 times, according to the Groundhog Club's Inner Circle (there are no records for the remaining years, according to the AP). Though Phil gets all the credit, it's 15 members of the Inner Circle who decide the news in advance.
Jason Cohn / Reuters
WTAJ meteorologist Joe Murgo tries to interview Phil after his big prediction. No word on how that went.
And not everyone believes the hype. "Punxsutawney Phil is a punk when it comes to weather forecasting," wrote veteran meteorologist Tim McGill on the Chicago Weather Center blog. McGill, who has covered 26 years of Phil predictions, said most weather experts "dread Groundhog Day." (For good measure, he ended his post with a recipe for woodchuck stew).
But Mike Johnston, vice president of the Inner Circle, told the AP that Phil has "never been wrong." The reason is simple, he said: Phil can't err, because he never applies his prognostication to a specific place. "I guarantee you someone's going to have six more weeks of winter," he said.
Groundhog Day and more animal news:
Punxsutawney Phil stuffs the competition
The origins of 13 enduring superstitions
Punxsutawney Phil and 7 other animals who predict the future
Will and Kate's new puppy breed revealed!
Elephant fitted with giant contact to heal injured eye
Amy DiLuna, TODAY.com senior editor, doesn't know from weather, but thinks that furry little meatball Phil is adorable.
Leave a Comment:
Not Again !!!
We haven't had the first six weeks of winter yet!
Six more weeks of Spring!!! I mean Winter!
6 more weeks of this "winter" will be very hard to take.
I was doing chores in Minnesota this morning and there was a songbird (don't ask me what kind) that was singing at the top of his little lungs. I take that as a good sign.
Well, there's a joke here, folks. Yes. On February 2d we will ALWAYS have 6 more weeks of winter. That doesn't address the issue of what that weather will be like. Second: Assuming a groundhog could actually prognosticate the weather based on whether or not he sees his shadow, Punxatawny Phil could only tell us what the weather would be like in his immediate region not what the rest of the nation could expect. Third: He's surrounded by massive lights and cameras. Of course the groundhog is going to see his shadow!
Damn groundhog!
It's ALL Bush's fault !!!!...LOL...:P
With the screwed up weather we've been having, Groundhog Day needs to be moved to June 2nd. That's when we'll probably wonder if our winter that started in March is coming to an end.
Nah, Becky. I know the fault can be traced back at least as far as Reagan.
You're logic couldn't be more flawed. If you're surrounded by massive lights you would have no shadow. The lights behind you would eliminate the shadow caused from the lights in front of you and vice versa.
Apparently Punxsutawney Phil is not sold on the global warming propaganda.
Phil says it is that darn global warming and we need that darn carbon tax already.. Giving the government more money always solves things.. He registered with ACORN and voted for Obama..
I question Punxsutawney Phil's credentials....and his birth certificate...any chance he could change his prediction over say, a good wood wine? what dya say little fellow...
I feel that it's time to stop covering this "event" on TV.
The groundhog is cool - it's the goofy group of men in stove top hats, their lengthy introductions with bogus titles, and their stilted clichéd speeches that reminded me of a boring boosters club meeting that need to stop. And now they have changed the rules in that spring is no longer determined by Phil seeing his shadow (or not) - it's now determined by the grand poobah's interpretation of what Phil tells him!
I know that it's all for fun - but these pasty bozos are taking tedium to new levels.
So, don't watch it.
I grew up in PA, and it always amazed me how much importance was attached to this event. Think about it: When is the official first day of spring? March 21st, just a little over six weeks from February 2nd! EVERY YEAR!
Becky
With all of Mr Bush's uninformed decisions and consistant ignoring (as in ignorant) of climate advice from top NOAA scientists and NWS climatoligists to regulate greenhouse gasses you may be right. Add to that his penchant to control papers to be published by government climate scientists and obstruction of findings it is almost certain that he is at least complicit.
Not so funny when you think about it. However this is about Phil the groundhog and I guess we can mostly agree that he is kinda cute and fuzzy.
Seattle - Its winter here until July 4th and then we start the next winter season. And forget seeing your shadow.
I'd be more than happy to trade you normal Seattle winters and summers for normal Indiana summers and winters
What winter? We haven't even had winter!
Do the math....it is six weeks between February 2nd and March 21st and no way to shorten that, so of course, there will be six weeks more of winter....why subject the poor darn groundhog to all this craziness...You'd have thought PETA would have noticed the calendar thing and been all over them years ago.
Getting to dislike that little rodent , I'm heading south , the day after the super bowl....
"Go New England Patriots".....
I like that buck-toothed rat. UU
Somebody unplug HAARP.
I probably shouldn't be by now, but, I am just amazed at how negative people really the phuck are. Oh, we should do away with Groundhog Day, It was Bush's fault, it's global warming, it's those nasty liberals fault, it's because Obama was born in Africa, he has no birth certificate, and the one he showed was a fake(dumb asses), Why don't you stupid a$$ wankers get a goddamn life. By the way, we haven't exactly had winter here yet either, damn that global warming.....just saying
I almost forgot, I really don't give a punxsutawney phuck about either New York or New England, what are they, the Giant dildos and the Patriot Actors, what ever, they both suck, but, I will vote on the Giant dildo's to win the game, 30 to 23.... Go Giant Dildo's.....hahahahaha, oh yea, go Newt lol
As Phils' girlhog all I have to say is, "fth fth, nic nic ftht!"
Wow... you guys need to calm down. Its just a rodent pulled out of its quiet little nest because some very bored individuals formed a club... a long time ago. So leave the tradition alone and go about your business if you dont want to participate or... are you even more bored than they? My sympathys.
I was just watching Bill Murray's movie Ground Hog Day on dvd today. Wonder why they networks never show Ground Hog on Ground Hog Day?
Shhhss some one is always harping about Haarp, so when haarp is unplugged with the harping also Stop :-)
Groundhogs are cute
Don't taste very good though.
I hear from my friends up in Montana that they taste sort of between spotted owl and bald eagle.
They taste just fine, if you know how to cook 'em.
You slap some hot sauce on 'em, and they taste just like honey badgers...... And Navy Patriot, if I ever see some one killing a Bald Eagle, they might get to see what the underside of my truck looks like, all up close and personal.
My last boss looks just like Phil. Aww, so cute
Where is the groundhog who bit Mayor Bloomberg a few years ago. Animals can sense evil. He is my hero.
I think he shot him with a gun he bought out of state
The same people that went after Spitzer liquidated the Groundhog.
Why would he have to go out of state?? Ya know the wally world of vice is open 24/7..You can buy guns at the same place you buy your crack and hookers.. But with his mob ties the rodent would just disappear so forget-about it..................
Shoot the rodent and try again! ;-)
Bill Murray drove him off a cliff it doesn't work, the little critter keeps coming back.
Don't drive angry!
Little furry bastard! I hate winter!
Um...my math might be off, but 2012 - 1886 = 126 years of phil and his weather observations...100 times seeing his shadow (including today) + 16 times he didn't see his shadow = 116. What happened to other ten years? Is that when they were shooting 'Groundhog Day'?
Those were leap years.
indianaengineer - Leap years don't change the number of years, it just adds a day to February. I really hope you're not actually an engineer with an answer like that.
patsfan4life - I'm assuming they just missed a few years, probably due to World War 1 and 2 and possibly the influenza pandemic of 1918, but I don't know for sure.
Good math! The AP says that "there are no records for the remaining years." I'm adding that info to the post now; thanks for pointing it out!
Wow Amy DiLuna, you're hot!
During war years weather is censored to prevent giving intel to the enemy and besides what do you think they put in those C and K rations anyway..........
Thanks for the facts on leap years, Tim. However, I think Engineer may have been making a joke.
If you read the article, it stated very clearly that records were not kept for all the years. Public education at it's best.
If you'll check back up this thread, it says that this fact was added by Amy DiLuna, and her comment to this effect was added at 9:13 A.M., 2 hours 10 minutes after the post questioning where the remaining years were. So I suggest that you read things more closely rather than being so quick to knock others.
Actually Beezy-3081431, seeings how the groundhog saw it's shadow, she's most likely cold, hahahaha....couldn't help it, I had too....
thank you acwbury, it was a joke.
Yes! punxsutawney Phil does it again.He is the most accurate forecaster I have ever seen. When he says 6 more weeks , he means it. When our local forecaster says it will be sunny, he is correct about 75% of the time. And likewise with all the other weather forecasting our local does. I refer to local as in all localities in general. I have been in many cities and yet to find a news station meteorologist with an accuracy record equal to or better than Phil. GO PHIL!!!!
He aint accurate he's scared of all those ugly ass humans.
Absolutuly the best and most accurate. If he sees his shadow you get six weeks more winter, otherwise it's only a month and a half.
Punxsutawney Phil has a 36% accuracy rate. Buckeye Chuck has 76%.
Pull your head out, Lamdaguy.
Punx'y Phil's prognostacations are worthless in areas with naturally cold, longer winters (such as in USDA plant hardiness zones 5 and colder).
As for accuracy, Phil is ripped out of his lodge for ONE day a year (a made-up holiday by Founding Fathers - freemasons - who had hateful issue with the traditional Roman Catholic Church's Candlemas Day). Let any local meteorologist make a forecast on one early February day (the only one all year), and Phil would lose. Plus, Phil 'can't be officially proved wrong' because he simply forecasts an ambiguous result. "Spring comes early/late. Where? At what latitude or elevation? What is the universal cue that 'spring has started?' Is it forsythia in bloom? The first robin? The first day of temperatures over 65 F?
There always is!
Here in the SW of USA, we're have upper 50's to lower 60's lately. We don't have a groundhogs, we have prairie dogs. They saw their shadow here, big deal. I go by our mesquite trees and bushes.
They are also known as woodchucks
When it comes to inaccurate Meteorologists, Cincinnati has the entire country beat.
How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
it is all Clinton's fault or is it Obama's you pick.
ahnerrj- I feel ya on the Cincinnati Meteorologists!!!! How hard is it to get the weather correct for at least 2 days in a row.
My office calendar says that that it is not only 'Dia Candelmas' but that it is also 'Dia de la Marota', so it really covers all of the bases. But while I knew that many of the Founders were Freemasons, I had no idea that they were the creators of Groundhog Day. From what source, pray tell, did you learn of this gem of knowledge?
"Hey you Woodchucks quit chuckin' my wood!!!!"
Don't know about woodchucks but honey badgers don't give a damn.
Next yar I'd like to see a little variety.... dress Phil in a nifty little Evel Knievel outfit, with sunglasses, and stuff him out the end of a fake cannon barrel. And the humans would wear wooly full-coverage bear pajamas, the ones with the plastic feet on them.
What winter? It has been springlike in Oklahoma.
I hope it stays that way too!
I am 63 years old, with achy bones. I am all for global warming until it gets to 70 degrees year round here - then I want it stopped. A furnace just does not make you feel as good as warm sunshine on your face.
one of the stupidest traditions ever ...
Just like the Democratic Party.
just like every party ... they are all the same out for themselves only ...
Only took nine posts for something as innocuous as Groundhog day to denigrate into something political. Get a life!!!
You do realize how dumb you sound using "stupidest", I hope.
The politicians are not stupid we are for electing the self minded greedy corporate a$$ kissers they are..Remember when the Joker said that "this town needs an enema" well he was talking about Washington D.C... That thing looks tasty because we are riding the wave of the new world order and are flat broke and jobless.. Way to go Obama...................
Ok If the groundhog has seen his shadow 99 times since 1886, wouldn't that mean he hasn't seen it 27 times instead of 16 like this article claims? Or am I missing something here?
Dont forget the ten years hard time he did for weather forcasting without a licensse
Drew maybe he was on vacation the other times.
the groundhog is a sham just let it go
Drew, the article said records were not kept for all of the years. Or did you not read? Cannot read? Won't read? In a hurry to post? Afraid the noss will walk in? Afraid mommy will walk in? Hey, she already knows you look at porn.
Article didn't say that until two hours after that post was made. I still want to know what they did to him for forecasting without a license, since in his case locking him up in a hole in the ground doesn't seem particularly punitive in his case.
How accurate is this?
...really? lol
It's just superstition, but that doesn't mean you can't have a little fun.
If there were any significance to it at all, wouldn't printing companies have to wait until today to print calendars indicating the first day of spring? Seems to me like it's always March 21st...just over six weeks after Groundhog Day....
It's just fun, but that doesn't mean you can't have a little superstition.
Yes, again! Wouldn't you know it's my favorite holiday? Happy Groundhog Day to everyone!
It may not mean much to the media these days but Groundhogs day is still exciting for children. My children were watching MSNBC this morning as they teased the event for quite some time prior to 7:25. Unfortunately the MSNBC anchors missed the coverage and the only thing the pompous anchor could say was "oops we missed it, 6 more weeks of winter" and continued his discussions. At least they could have shown what was missed. Way to class it up MSNBC.
my kid was watching sesame street and didnt want to watch the big fat rat ...
Winter is about to reappear here in Colorado starting later today. Perhaps up to a foot of snow here in the city, and maybe windy enough to get a blizzard going further east on the plains.
Groundhogs are cute but dumb as toast about predicting weather. Look it up, Old Phil is less then 50% accurate.
There are only 2 choices - how can he be less than 50%? lol
Who cares!!!
Well I do!
If the next six weeks of winter is like the past six weeks, I can deal with it. Although, a little more sunshine would be nice. Buffalo, NY
FYI - Dunkirk Dave did NOT see his shadow!
Who in there right mind would believe that a stupid rat could predict the weather.!!!Can't wait for summer so we can hunt them again.!!!
Chill Phil.
Well, he wouldn't have seen any shadows where I live! So I guess we are out of the woods & only have a month & a half til spring! ((big grin))
I don't really believe in that stuff! The old Farmer's Almanac is better at predicting than a groundhog (rodent/large rat) and better than most weather people!
Bring him up to Rochester,NY.Lets have a BBQ!!
Grand Rapids, MN. 5 inches of snow in the yard, was wearing a T-shirt yesterday and going to be in the upper 30's for the next week. Winter?..........bring it on :)
What winter? Here in Beaumont, TX the temperatures are in the mid-Seventies every day. Our problem is mosquitoes! We would welcome a little cold weather.
bull its a old saying not true
What a gig. Work one day a year and be perpetually famous. He looks pretty good for being alive since 1886.