Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, on February 2nd, 2025, concluding that there will be six more weeks of winter.
An annual event that has been a recorded tradition since 1886, according to The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, has taken place once again in the groundhog’s home, the Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania (The Punxsutawney GroundHog Club, 2025). Every year Phil Punxsutawney, the famous groundhog, creates a prediction if there will be six more weeks of winter, or if there will be an early spring. How does he create these predictions? It all depends on if he sees his shadow or not during his special day.
One may wonder how this transition came to be. The previous club mentioned describes that the answer is very deeply rooted, dating back to many centuries ago when Christians would bring candles to their church on February 2nd, to be blessed. This would, in turn, bring blessings to their home for the remaining winter. The same club shows that there was also an old English folk song that described this event:
“If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Come, Winter, have another flight;
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Go Winter, and come not again.”
While all of Europe was familiar with this tale, it was Germany that introduced an animal into the February 2nd lore, creating another evolution of this tradition. According to the Library of Congress Blogs written by Stephen Winick, they state that in German culture, if a hedgehog sees its shadow on “Candlemas Day”, February 2nd, then six more weeks of winter would come their way (Stephen Winick, February 1, 2022). As time passed and German settlers began to live in the United States, they also brought their traditions and folklore to America. This evolution of Candlemas Day was brought to the U.S. as well. However, since there were few hedgehogs on this continent, they found another similar species, the groundhog. From then on, a groundhog, Phil Punxsutawney, ‘dictates’ if there is an early spring or six more weeks of winter.
Mary Gilbert from CNN puts in her two cents about the predictions from Phil. She states, “He has only been right about 35% of the time since 2005, according to data analyzed by NOAA” (Mary Gilbert, February 2nd, 2025). However, he was correct about last year’s early spring, which had above-average temperatures in February and March.
Although meteorologists are skeptical of Phil’s predictions, the rest of the world is waiting to see if his word holds.
