{"id":102979,"date":"2026-02-02T15:37:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T15:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/102979\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T15:37:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T15:37:11","slug":"groundhog-punxsutawney-phil-will-predict-winters-end-or-6-more-weeks-of-cold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/102979\/","title":{"rendered":"Groundhog Punxsutawney Phil will predict winter’s end or 6 more weeks of cold"},"content":{"rendered":"

PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. — PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Punxsutawney Phil<\/a>, the legendary groundhog that lives in a tree stump in rural Pennsylvania, has issued the most highly anticipated weather forecast of the season: six more weeks<\/a> of winter. <\/p>\n

The groundhog\u2019s forecast was announced Monday by the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club in rural Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

When Phil sees his shadow, it means six more weeks of winter. If he hadn\u2019t seen his shadow, that would have foretold an early arrival of spring.<\/p>\n

This event at Gobbler\u2019s Knob dates back over a century and has ties to ancient European farming traditions. The festivities have grown since the 1993 movie \u201cGroundhog Day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Latest: <\/p>\n

Michael Venos, who tracks Groundhog Day predictions at countdowntogroundhogday.com<\/a>, said the early results Monday indicated a split verdict.<\/p>\n

Agreeing with Punxsutawney Phil that more winter weather is on the way this year are General Beauregard Lee, a Georgia groundhog; and groundhog mascot Dover Doug in Pennsylvania. <\/p>\n

Also in the \u201cmore winter\u201d camp are That Dog Named Gidget, a Havanese in New York; and opossum Birmingham Jill in Alabama.<\/p>\n

Those predicting an early spring include groundhogs Buckeye Chuck in Ohio; Fig Newton in North Carolina; and Shubenacadie Sam in Nova Scotia. They are joined by Benny the Bass, a fish in Ohio; and Pennsylvania ferret Jessup Giuseppe.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s just the start \u2014 Venos expects to tally about 100 events. <\/p>\n

Punxsutawney Phil is predicting six more weeks of winter after his handlers said he saw his shadow outside his tree stump on Gobbler\u2019s Knob.<\/p>\n

The groundhog\u2019s forecast was announced Monday by the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club in rural Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

When Phil sees his shadow, it means six more weeks of winter. If he hadn\u2019t seen his shadow, that would have foretold an early arrival of spring.<\/p>\n

Icy temperatures Monday kept the crowd bundled up \u2014 by all accounts the mercury remained in the low single digits in the hours before the prognostication.<\/p>\n

Dance music and probably a desire to stay warm kept people on the main stage dancing \u2014 including a cold looking beauty queen.<\/p>\n

The Groundhog Day traditions include festive hats \u2014 and on Monday they were helping stave off the brutal cold.<\/p>\n

The crowd and performers danced to tunes such as \u201cShout\u201d And \u201cSunday Finest\u201d in the cold weather.<\/p>\n

It was 2 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 17 degrees Celsius) out, according to the National Weather Service.<\/p>\n

Phil was expected out soon.<\/p>\n

The band \u201cJuvenile Characteristics\u201d sang \u201cWake up, Phil!\u201d<\/p>\n

They called out, \u201cLet\u2019s Wake Him Up!\u201d<\/p>\n

It is a Groundhog Day-themed song, often used to wake up Punxsutawney Phil at Gobbler\u2019s Knob.<\/p>\n

The group then led the crowd chanting, \u201cPhil, Phil, Phil,\u201d about 15 minutes before Phil was expected to come out.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a video said to have been produced by \u201cthe wizard of hog\u201d got the crown ready for Phil\u2019s imminent arrival.<\/p>\n

Along with classic rock songs and the stadium anthem \u201cSeven Nation Army,\u201d it also included exhortations such as \u201call year we\u2019ve trained for this\u201d and \u201cthis means nothing and yet it means everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

You have to be a resident of the Punxsutawney Area School District to become a member of the groundhog club\u2019s inner circle \u2014 the tuxedo and top hat-wearing crew that runs the show.<\/p>\n

They all have nicknames that befit their status \u2014 Shingle Shaker, Moonshine, Big Chill, Frostbite, Rainmaker, Iceman, Downpour, Fair Weatherman and Daybreaker, among them.<\/p>\n

Openings come up infrequently, and the club looks for people who are willing to make the significant time commitment it takes to care for Phil and his family and put on the massive yearly event.<\/p>\n

U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick was among the political figures drawn to the Gobbler\u2019s Knob stage on Monday — noting his mother was from Punxsutawney.<\/p>\n

Also spotted were state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, who is currently pursuing the governorship, and top state Senate Republicans Joe Pittman and Kim Ward.<\/p>\n

AccuWeather\u2019s chief long-range weather expert, meteorologist Paul Pastelok, said some clouds moved into Punxsutawney overnight, bringing flurries he called \u201cmicroflakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pastelok said the coming week will remain cold, with below average temperatures in the eastern United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve still got some more snow and ice to contend with\u201d in the mid-Atlantic, Ohio River Valley and Northeastern U.S., he said.<\/p>\n

As for long-range forecasts, Pastelok said: \u201cThe farther out you get the accuracy is not specifically on point all the time, but we can get trends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pastelok was in the State College area, about an hour from Punxsutawney.<\/p>\n

Lisa Gibson was in Punxsutawney to attend Groundhog Day for the 10th time, wearing a lighted hat that resembled the tree stump from which Phil would emerge shortly after daybreak.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh man, it just breaks up the doldrums of winter,\u201d said Gibson, accompanied by her husband — dressed up as Elvis Presley — and teenage daughter. \u201cIt\u2019s like Halloween and New Year\u2019s Eve all wrapped up into one holiday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gibson, a resident of Pittsburgh, was rooting for Phil to not see his shadow and therefore predict an early start to spring. She was there to \u201chave a good time, and bring on that early spring.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the revelers streaming to the site early Monday was India Kirssin, there to celebrate her 27th birthday with a group drawn from Ohio and Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

Kirssin said it was her second Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney — the first was on her 10th birthday.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody\u2019s in a good mood, it seems like,\u201d Kirssen said, holding a customized sign.<\/p>\n

She floated the plan to return this year back in November: \u201cIt all came together last minute.\u201d<\/p>\n

Groundhogs are herbivores that are themselves edible to humans, although they are not widely consumed.<\/p>\n

The Pennsylvania Game Commission says about 36,000 hunters reported killing more than 200,000 groundhogs last year.<\/p>\n

Game Commission spokesperson Travis Lau found groundhog a bit stinky to clean and thick-skinned, but \u201cactually really good\u201d and \u201cmore like beef than venison.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some cooks advise that groundhogs are best taken when they are young and after clover is in bloom, since a clover diet is thought to improve the meat\u2019s taste.<\/p>\n

A couple hundred people are expected to gather Monday afternoon in Bee Cave, located just west of Austin, to watch an armadillo named Bee Cave Bob.<\/p>\n

Mike Burke, who helped start the annual tradition, believes an armadillo \u201cknows a whole lot more about what\u2019s going on than some rodent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their ceremony also includes watching to see if the animal sees his shadow, but they aren\u2019t opposed to improvising a little to make sure the crowd goes home happy. \u201cA lot of the times when it\u2019s been kind of a crummy winter, we\u2019ll predict early spring no matter what,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Some well-meaning efforts have sought to determine Phil\u2019s accuracy, but what \u201csix weeks of winter\u201d means is debatable. By all accounts, the furry prognosticator predicts more winter far more often than he predicts an early spring.<\/p>\n

And claims that a groundhog has or has not seen its shadow \u2014 and that it\u2019s able to communicate that to a human \u2014 are also fair territory for skeptics and the humor-impaired.<\/p>\n

Among the skeptics is the National Centers for Environmental Information, within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The government agency last year compared Phil\u2019s record<\/a> with U.S. national temperatures over the prior decade and concluded he was right only 40% of the time.<\/p>\n

Punxsutawney is an area that Pennsylvania Germans settled \u2014 and in the late 1880s started celebrating the holiday by picnicking, hunting and eating groundhogs.<\/p>\n

Members of Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, organized in 1899, care for Phil at a customized space beside Punxsutawney Memorial Library \u2014 where there\u2019s a window with a view into the creature\u2019s burrow.<\/p>\n

The annual ritual at Gobbler\u2019s Knob goes back more than a century, with ties to ancient farming traditions in Europe. Punxsutawney\u2019s festivities have grown considerably since the 1993 movie \u201cGroundhog Day,\u201d starring Bill Murray.<\/p>\n

Groundhog Day falls on Feb. 2, the midpoint between the shortest, darkest day of the year on the winter solstice and the spring equinox. It\u2019s a time of year that also figures in the Celtic calendar and the Christian holiday of Candlemas<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. — PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Punxsutawney Phil, the legendary groundhog that lives in a tree stump…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[49850,1165,5535,1681,38,6842,49821,28,30,29,44,301],"class_list":["post-102979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-49850","tag-article","tag-climate-and-environment","tag-entertainment","tag-general-news","tag-oddities","tag-parties-and-entertaining","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-u-s-news","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}