It's that time of the year again. Image Credit: CC BY 2.0 Anthony Quintano
The world-famous rodent was the star of the show at this year's Groundhog Day celebrations in Pennsylvania.
Bill Murray might be nowhere to be seen, but today is Groundhog Day nonetheless - a bizarre tradition celebrated in February each year that dates back as far as the 18th Century.
The whole thing is based on the idea that if the groundhog emerges from its burrow and sees its own shadow, then there will be six more weeks of winter.
If it doesn't see its own shadow, then spring will come early.
The most widely publicized example of the ceremony takes place in Pennsylvania where the groundhog - named Punxsutawney Phil - famously emerges from his home (named Gobbler's Knob).
So did Phil see his shadow this year ?
Sadly, he did - meaning that winter will be sticking around a bit longer (according to the tradition, anyway).
Groundhog Day had remained a little known festival for many decades until the 1993 movie starring Bill Murray catapulted it into the limelight with the name even becoming synonymous with the idea of something repeating over and over again.
These days, the ceremony attracts large crowds from all over the world.
Has it ever been correct with it's predictions? It only applies to the area the groundhog lives in. In the southwest where we don't have groundhogs we get the end of winter about the same time most years, and it is usually just after the groundhog claims 6 more weeks of winter.
So we had a day where the temperature was over 80 degrees, more like normal again after all the below 60 degree days. The low last night was 28, that is also closer to normal for this time of year. Like I said before, the ground hog "prediction" has never been right for the southwestern part of the country.
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