Pennsylvania groundhog set to ‘predict’ whether winter ends

For only the fourth time since the year 2000, Punxsutawney Phil failed to see his shadow Tuesday morning. Instead, Phil and his handlers from the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club Inner Circle made cameo appearances on January 23 at Pittsburgh’s Penn Brewery for the unveiling of its “Punxsutawney Philsner” draft beer and at a Pittsburgh Penguins hockey game. If Phil does not see his shadow, then there will be an early spring.

Fred Unger, a Lancaster native, said it’s “what he prayed for” and Punxsy Phil’s prediction means one step closer to beach weather. Still, this is definitive proof of the end of days.

NOAA’s October predictions for America’s winter included colder and wetter than normal conditions for the Southeast, mild weather in the West and warmer weather in the Midwest and Northeast.

(AP Photo/Keith Srakocic). Wooden carvings of top hat wearing groundhogs are for sale at an annual craft show in the square in Punxsutawney, Pa., Monday, Feb. 1, 2016.

Groundhog Day stems from a Christian celebration called Candlemas Day which marked the halfway point between the winter solstice and spring equinox. Since 1887, the groundhog has seen his shadow 102 times and not seen it just 18 times. Legend has it that if the furry rodent sees his shadow on February 2, winter will last another month-and-a-half.

Get ready for an early spring.

“There’s no reason to expect that trend to change through winter, so by coincidence, as much as anything, the groundhog’s outlook is fairly realistic”, says Wolf. Many of those in attendance had stayed overnight and partied into the wee hours waiting for the groundhog’s forecast.

However in New Jersey, the local prognosticators objected to Phil’s prediction.

Tuesday’s celebration was billed as the 130th forecast by Phil. Other weather-forecasting whistlepigs across the US include French Creek Freddie from West Virginia, Gen. Beauregard Lee from Georgia, North Carolina’s Sir Wally Wally, Louisiana’s Cajun Groundhog, Smith Lake Jake from Alabama, and Staten Island Chuck from NY. Media coverage of the event started the following year, she said. The prosecuting attorney in Butler County, Ohio, went so far as to seek the death penalty for Phil for “misrepresentation of early spring”. This year’s Phil, however, has not whiled away the winter underground like most of his species, also known as woodchucks.