Groundhog Phil predicts that winter will be six weeks longer, don't put away the coats or umbrellas. Groundhog Day dates back to 1700.
Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].
Do you trust the weather predictions of a groundhog? If so, don't put away your coats and umbrellas, because according to "Punxsutawney Phil" winter will be six weeks longer.
This Tuesday, at 7:25 a.m., and for the first time without a live audience due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the groundhog emerged in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, and saw his shadow, which, according to tradition, will extend the frigid temperatures into spring.
Since 1887, Phil has made predictions - even though the average lifespan of a groundhog in captivity is less than a decade - and in 134 years only 20 times has he predicted an early spring, just as he did in 2020.
While the winter season has seen temperatures well above average in the northern and central U.S. and near normal in the South, there are also areas that have recorded the warmest winter in history, with up to seven degrees above normal.
According to the Washington Post, from Monday's snowstorm in the Northeast, which blanketed the city of Punxsutawney and brought up to 30 inches of snow near New York City, there are signs that support colder and stormier times ahead.
Thus, a second storm could hit the Northeast this weekend, or that could be followed by frigid air surging southeastward over the Great Lakes and Appalachians next week, where temperatures could drop suddenly.
According to the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center, during February, temperatures will be milder than average in the eastern part of the country, with below-average temperatures expected only in parts of the Pacific Northwest and the Columbia River Basin in the northern Rockies.
It is worth noting that Phil's predictions are dubious, since in the last 10 years he has been right only 50 percent of the time. Although his agents announce it as a 100 percent sure omen, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) points out that the "immortal" groundhog's predictions are as accurate as a random guess.
Groundhog Day dates back to the 1700s, when German settlers came to the United States, bringing with them a tradition known as Candlemas Day, a celebration between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox.
Nearly a century later it was reinvented as Groundhog Day. "According to superstition, sunny skies on that day signify a stormy and cold second half of winter, while cloudy skies indicate the arrival of warmer weather," explains the website the NOAA.
