Ask Annie!

By Annie Peace on February 6, 2014

Q. What is the history of Groundhog Day and how accurate has this prediction been in the past?

With all of the hype around the Super Bowl, many of us had forgotten about Groundhog Day this past Sunday. With the recent accumulations of snow it should come with no surprise that Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and we are in store for another six weeks of winter!

Rumor has it that Groundhog Day in the United States comes from the European Holiday of Candlemas Day. Candlemas Day was the first to claim Feb. 2 as its holiday and essentially held the same superstition as Groundhog Day. The legend goes "If Candlemas be fair and bright, come, winter, have another flight; If Candlemas brings clouds and rain, go winter, come not again." The Germans began using hedgehogs on this day to predict bad weather or the coming of and early spring. When the Germans settled Pennsylvania they continued this tradition with groundhogs as it most closely resembled a hedgehog. In 1886, the first official Groundhog Day was held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. A year later many trekked to Gobbler's Knob to see Punxsutawney Phil predict six more weeks of winter, and thus the tradition began.

So how accurate has Punxsutawney Phil been for the past 128 years? According to the official record, about nine times out of ten Phil sees his shadow with the occasional year where he doesn't make an appearance or makes his appearance before sunrise. So generally we can expect winter to last into March. Last year, however, Phil gave us all hope of an early spring. Needless to say these hopes were shattered as we were still seeing snow and ice into early May. So as far as researching predictions about the upcoming seasons, I will most likely be sticking to the Farmers' Almanac before relying on Punxsutawney Phil!

Thanks for the fun question this week and keep them coming!