Punxsutawney Phil, the famous groundhog, has predicted six more weeks of winter for America as he gave his weather forecast in Pennsylvania.
A big crowd was in attendance at Gobbler’s Knob as the woodchuck was ushered out of his tree stump to deliver his prediction.
Keeping a close eye on their furry friend, the top-hatted handlers said Phil saw his shadow, meaning a prediction of six more weeks of wintry weather.
The ritual goes back more than a century – with far older roots in European folklore – and was made famous by Bill Murray’s 1993 movie Groundhog Day.
If the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club members declare Phil does not see his shadow, that is said to usher in an early spring. If he does see it, it’s six more weeks of winter, so the saying goes.
What that means can be subjective, however.
And it may surprise, but Phil isn’t always accurate either. He has predicted a longer winter far more often than an early spring, and one effort to track his accuracy concluded he was right less than 50% of the time…
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