Groundhog Day Feb 2 2012 Six More Weeks of Winter!

Groundhog Day, Feb 2, 2012, Six More Weeks of Winter

Today is Groundhog Day, the annual right of early spring when a known member of the rodent family, known as either Punxsutawney Phil, or Staten Island Chuck, or Sir Walter Wally, or General Beauregard Lee or Warton Willie and a host of others.

Punxsutawney Phil emerged to see his shadow before chilly revelers, meaning winter will last another six weeks. In other less attended areas, some of Phil’s cousins did not see their shadows.

Phil may have been a little confused by the shadows created by all of the lights for those cameras Bill Murray’s crew had set up.

German tradition holds that if a hibernating animal sees its shadow on Feb. 2 - the Christian holiday of Candlemas - winter will last another six weeks. If no shadow is seen, legend says spring will come early.

The Inner Circle of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club annually announces Phil's forecast at dawn on Gobbler's Knob, about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

Phil's announcement came before hundreds of onlookers who huddled as temperatures hovered in the mid 30’s, which is far warmer than normal.

We’ve had an extremely mild winter so far, and just a couple of days ago set record highs with temps in the low 60’s. Our snowfall this year is only 60 inches behind the snowfall we had for 6 weeks of last winter.

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The Groundhog Club says since 1887 Phil has predicted more winter weather by seeing his shadow nearly 100 times, but there are no records for nine years. Of note, Bill Murray was nowhere to be seen today, must have overslept.

Groundhog Day, Feb 2, 2012, Six More Weeks of Winter