Punxsutawney Phil predicts an early spring

Finally, some good news? Pennsylvania’s primo prognosticator Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow during annual Groundhog Day celebrations yesterday, meaning that, according to legend, there will be an early spring.
The US state’s tradition of using a large rodent to predict the seasons dates back to the Pennsylvania Dutch belief that if a groundhog left its burrow and saw its shadow, it would scurry back inside and winter would go on for six more weeks.
Groundhog Day is now a major yearly event in Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, complete with top-hatted comperes, cheering crowds and a full-court press.
Thousands of revellers gathered at dawn in Punxsutawney, a small town northeast of Pittsburgh, to celebrate Groundhog Day.
Phil and his predecessors, also called Phil, have been forecasting since 1887, and this year more than 40,000 people camped out to wait for sunrise and the groundhog’s emergence.
“Another winter slumber paused so I could meet the crowd, it’s hard to sleep anyway when the party is this loud,” said Dan McGinley, vice-president of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, reading from a scroll “selected” by the groundhog.
“What this weather did not provide is a shadow or reason to hide. Glad tidings on this Groundhog Day. An early spring is on the way,” Phil’s official “interpreter” read in a proclamation, as cheers went up from the crowd who witnessed the tongue-in-cheek event staged every February 2 in the town.
McGinley even raised the prospect of voters writing in Punxsutawney Phil’s name on ballots as the United States enters a presidential election year.
In the past 10 years, Phil has been accurate only 30% of the time, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
In 2023, Phil saw his shadow but temperatures that February were above average and in March only slightly below, leading the NOAA to declare that the furry forecaster had got it wrong.
Eager to cash in on the craze of animal forecasters, other states have adopted their own meteorological soothsayers, including Wisconsin’s Sun Prairie Jimmy, Woody the Woodchuck in Michigan, and Scramble the Duck in Connecticut.
Businesses didn’t miss a trick, with potato chip maker Frito Lay preparing to air ads showing actor Stephen Tobolowsky enduring a scenario similar to the plot of the popular movie Groundhog Day.
The cult 1993 film, in which Tobolowsky played a relentlessly upbeat salesman, saw leading man Bill Murray stuck in a never-ending 24-hour loop after Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of winter.
The event evolved from an ancient ritual brought to America by immigrants who settled in what is now the state of Pennsylvania.
The first official celebration of Groundhog Day was in 1886, according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club.
As Punxsutawney Phil made his prediction yesterday, California was bracing for a second atmospheric river that was due to bring more torrential rains tomorrow after a similar storm dumped heavy rains on the state earlier this week.
However, the Pittsburgh area can look forward to mostly mild, sunny weather until late next week, with temperatures ranging as high as 57° Fahrenheit (14° Celsius), much warmer than usual for early February.