Groundhog day 2020

[Nitro]

Well it's that time of the year again
Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, home of the infamous marmut weather prognosticator, comes alive for the annual festival.

Phil didn't see his shadow, so according to local legend, we will have an early spring!
Punxy is just 111 miles away from the 'ville, and I have passed thru there many times when headed out east.

 

[tree]

A very local legend has it that on this date, if Bruce (relative whose birthday is 2 February)
sees his shadow when he steps out of the shower, then there will be 60 days of February,
rather than the standard 45.

 

[Judge]

I don't know about groundhogs or shadows, but yesterday I opened my car's moonroof while driving down the road to get a bite to eat. Quite nice at 73 degrees for the first day of February.

This afternoon they are saying it may snow.

If it was accompanied by music it would probably sound like this:

 

[GrownupGirl]

It's overcast today, so I guess the local groundhog didn't see his shadow. So spring will come early, yeaaah riiight.

But seriously? Up here we'll be lucky if six more weeks of winter is all we have. We'll be lucky if the snow is gone by the end of April. Makes it hard to have outdoor Easter Egg hunts.

But we got a lot of snow, so it might not be such a good thing if spring came early. All the rain and melting snow will cause some nasty flooding.

 

[Nitro]

Nova Scotia's Shubenacadie Sam emerged from his burrow northeast of Halifax, and according to his handlers, saw his shadow. But in Ontario and Quebec, Wiarton Willie and Fred la Marmotte were paraded before their respective audiences and evidently saw no shadow.

Folklore has it that if a groundhog sees its shadow on Feb. 2, it will retreat into its burrow, heralding six more weeks of cold weather, which is not bad by most Canadian standards. No shadow is said to foretell spring-like temperatures are on the way.....

Willie was backed up by his Quebecois counterpart, Fred la Marmotte of Val-d'Espoir, who also suggested spring was nigh.

Pennsylvania's Punxsutawney Phil also made an appearance Sunday morning with his top-hatted handlers before a huge crowd at Gobbler's Knob, and predicted an early spring.

The Groundhog Day ritual may have something to do with Feb. 2 landing midway between winter solstice and spring equinox, but no one knows for sure.

Some say the tradition can be traced to Greek mythology, or it could have started with Candlemas, a Christian custom named for the lighting candles during the feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary.

One Scottish couplet summed up the superstition: "If Candlemas Day is bright and clear, there'll be two winters in the year."

Punxsutawney Phil - Wikipedia

 

[oregano]

My understanding is that this tradition did indeed come from Europe, but there was a different animal involved, which one I can't remember now. Settlers in frontier Pennsylvania transferred the custom to the native groundhogs. That area was mostly settled by Germans, so the custom likely comes from Germany. The Christmas Tree was also brought to America by German immigrants, who used American conifers in place of German ones.

Edit: Wikipedia says the original animal was a hedgehog, and that the lore was part of a Germanic pagan festival that was replaced with Candlemas after the Germanics were Christianized.

Looking up the town itself, it is in an area that I recognize as having indeed been part of German American settlement in the years immediately after the American Revolutionary War. Large numbers of Germans came to America soon after the conclusion of the American Revolution and the successful establishment of the USA.

Finding all the land along the coast taken, they moved inland, to areas west of Appalachia that were still largely settled by Natives. They included the ancestors of today's Amish. Tecumseh's Rebellion was prompted in large part by the waves of Germans quickly pushing Natives off their lands.

The rural lore of the settlers eventually became part of American mythology. The way we observe Christmas comes mostly from German peasants who settled in this area, for example.

 

[Major Tom]

I think it will be an early spring as well, but that's because my honeysuckle bush is already budding.

 

[Aspychata]

All l can say is l don't drive on black ice, and l don't shovel roofs anymore. And l don't check the sump pump for issues. Lol Because l live away from all that stuff!

 

[GrownupGirl]

Punxsutawney Phil - Wikipedia

I live in Cape Breton, so just because the groundhog saw his shadow in the mainland doesn't mean he saw it here.

 

[Nitro]

I live in Cape Breton, so just because the groundhog saw his shadow in the mainland doesn't mean he saw it here.

I live 111 miles or 178 kilometers away from a humorous Pennsylvania USA tradition.
It was posted for fun, not a serious atmospheric study, so no doubt it will not apply to most of anywhere, much like it has about a 35% chance of ever being correct where they hold the ceremony which is comical as all get out.

Just to bolster how humorous Groundhog Day is, I will share a trailer from a Bill Murray Movie titled Groundhog Day:

Here's a Wikipedia about the movie if you care to learn even more:
Groundhog Day (film) - Wikipedia

Here again, is the wiki that outlines what this silly tradition actually is:
Punxsutawney Phil - Wikipedia

 

[SusanLR]

T'was a mostly sunny day in Florida and spring doesn't know when to start.
It's still cool for here, but, the pollen from the Oaks already cover the cars.

 

[Pats]

I'm a little irritated at Phil - I'm still waiting for winter to begin here. It's gotten below freezing, but every time there's precipitation it warms up and is rain. I want some snow.

 

[tducey]

It's been a long winter here and was stormy yesterday so I guess an early spring for us as well.

 

[GrownupGirl]

They actually sell plush groundhogs for Groundhog's Day at Build A Bear.
That's really unusual. Right now there are Valentine's and Easter plushies everywhere, but you never see anything really groundhog-themed for Groundhog's Day. Might be something "unique" to add to my BAB collection.