More than 40,000 people gathered to see the Pennsylvania Prophet as part of a tradition dating back to 1887.
Punxsutawney Phil, Pennsylvania's leading prophet, didn't see his shadow at the annual Groundhog Day celebration on Friday, which legend has it is due to early spring. It means coming.
The US state's tradition of using large rodents to predict the seasons suggests that when a groundhog emerges from its burrow and sees its own shadow, it rushes back inside and winter continues for another six weeks. It goes back to the Pennsylvania Dutch belief in being deaf.
Groundhog Day is now a major annual event at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, filled with top-hatted competitors, cheering spectators, and a full-court press corps.
Phil and his predecessors (also known as Phil) have been forecasting since 1887, and this year more than 40,000 people camped out in a festive atmosphere waiting for the sun to rise and the groundhog to appear. .
“Once again, winter slumber has paused so we can meet the crowd,” Punxsutawney Groundhog Club Vice President Dan McGinley said as he read the groundhog's “selected” scroll. It's hard to sleep when it's so noisy.”
McGinley even raised the possibility of voters writing Punxsutawney Phil's name on their ballots as the United States enters a presidential election year.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), fills have been only 30% accurate over the past decade.
In 2023, Phil saw his shadow, but with temperatures in February above average and only slightly below average in March, NOAA declared the furry forecasters wrong.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro took to the stage before Phil and urged people from all over the world watching the festival to come to Punxsutawney next year. Shapiro also announced that the famous groundhog is Pennsylvania's new official meteorologist.
“Punxsutawney is the center of the universe right now, and we're so excited to have you here,” Shapiro said.
Capitalizing on the animal forecaster craze, other states are hiring their own weather forecasters, including Sun Prairie Jimmy in Wisconsin, Woody the Woodchuck in Michigan, and Scramble the Duck in Connecticut.
Companies didn't miss this ploy. Potato chip maker Frito-Lay was preparing to air an ad showing actor Stephen Tobolowsky enduring a scenario similar to the plot of the popular movie “Groundhog Day.”
In this cult 1993 film, in which Tobolowsky plays a relentlessly cheerful salesman, star Bill Murray finds himself stuck in an endless 24-hour loop after Punxsutawney Phil predicts six more weeks of winter. I saw a scene where it fell.