For all of you who haven’t stepped outside, looked out the window, or watched any sort of news broadcast: Winter has hit New England and it has hit hard. Snow has reached records highs in the past few weeks and it looks like Spring is never going to come. But this past Wednesday (the 2nd) we had the annual Groundhogs day. Now this “holiday” might not seem important to most of us because we don’t get school off nor do we have as much fun with it as we did in elementary school, but it is an important day for a lot of people in the United States. And this Groundhog day one of the most famous of the furry critters predicted that Spring was indeed on its way.

Punxsutawney Phil is the official groundhog of this celebration. The people of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania have been celebrating Groundhogs day since February 2nd, 1887. The legend claims that Punxsutawney Phil was originally named after King Phillip. Before being called Phil, he was called Br’er Groundhog. The people of Punxsutawney travel up to Gobbler’s Knob every year on the same day to see what the groundhog predicts for the weather. Now this might not sound exactly scientific, but the people of that town certainly believe that this prediction is 100% correct. Now some of the other things they claim to be true about the groundhog are a little hard to swallow, but it sure is a good story. For more information on Punxsutawney Phil check out his official site. Also take a look at the video of Phil not seeing his shadow. Let’s all hope this little guy was telling the truth. 😉

There are all sorts of weather predicting folklore besides the groundhog. Check out some them here. If you have any of your own you can respond to this blog. I’ll just sit here and hope for the best weather to come.

Signing off for now,