How Did a Groundhog Get a Job in Meteorology?

by Dima Duzzen, Staff Writer

Guess what? We’ve got six more weeks of winter coming. And we know this because a certain groundhog named Phil saw his shadow today, thus predicting another year of American weather. Phil has never taken a meteorology class, but every year crowds (that can reach 30,000) swarm Punxatawney, Pennsylvania, and rise at an ungodly hour to catch a glimpse of this furry Nostradamus.

Photo: Gene J. Puskar/AP

 America’s Groundhog Day began around 1887, but such weather-forecasting traditions go back centuries to the Celtic festival of Imbolc — where nobody really knows what happened — and the religious holiday of Candlemas, where a witch-turned-saint named Brigid was known to say: “If Candlemas Day be bright and clear, there'll be two winters in the year.” The Church then made her bless and light every candle in the village.

It was those hearty Germans, settling in Pennsylvania in the late 1800s, who had a fondness for furry creatures like badgers, bears and groundhogs. Then editor of the Punxatawney city paper, Clymer Freas, joined a group of local German hunters in their annual tradition of barbecuing groundhogs and drinking beer. Freas enjoyed these gatherings so much that he created a story about a weather-predicting groundhog and promoted it in his newspaper every February 2.

The story caught on, somebody dragged Phil out of hibernation and made him the annual star of the show, putting Punxatawney, PA, on the map. (Phil himself declined to comment for this article. After predicting extended winters for 100 of his 126 years, his contract is up for re-negotiation this year.)

The concept of Groundhog Day became popular across North America, especially after Bill Murray’s 1993 movie of the same name. Several other states have their own ceremonial animals including Connecticut’s whistle pig Chuckles and Maryland’s blond hedgepog Kat who usually does a shadow dance to accompany her prediction. In Canada, a groundhog named Wiarton Willy forecasts the weather (he claims spring will never come).

If you’re sick of groundhogs, you can celebrate February 2 as World Wetlands Day, which apparently has been happening for 41 years. Maybe if they adopted a celebrity rodent, it would catch on.

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