facts on groundhog day

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Punxsutawney  Present Weather  |  5-day Forecast n 1723, the Delaware Indians settled Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania as a campsite halfway between the Allegheny and the Susquehanna Rivers.  The town is 90 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, at the intersection of Route 36 and Route 119.  The Delawares considered groundhogs honorable ancestors.  According to the original creation beliefs of the Delaware Indians, their forebears began life as animals in "Mother Earth" and emerged centuries later to hunt and live as men.

The name Punxsutawney comes from the Indian name for the location
"ponksad-uteney" which means "the town of the sandflies."
The name woodchuck comes from the Indian legend of "Wojak,
the groundhog" considered by them to be their ancestral grandfather.

When German settlers arrived in the 1700s, they brought a tradition known as Candlemas Day, which has an early origin in the pagan celebration of Imbolc.  It came at the mid-point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox.  Superstition held that if the weather was fair, the second half of Winter would be stormy and cold.  For the early Christians in Europe, it was the custom on Candlemas Day for clergy to bless candles and distribute them to the people in the dark of Winter.  A lighted candle was placed in each window of the home.  The day's weather continued to be important.  If the sun came out February 2, halfway between Winter and Spring, it meant six more weeks of wintry weather.
The earliest American reference to Groundhog Day can be found at the Pennsylvania Dutch Folklore Center at Franklin and Marshall College:

February 4, 1841 - from Morgantown, Berks County (Pennsylvania) storekeeper James Morris' diary..."Last Tuesday, the 2nd, was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans, the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks nap, but if the day be cloudy he remains out, as the weather is to be moderate."

According to the old English saying:

If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Winter has another flight.
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Winter will not come again.

From Scotland:

If Candlemas Day is bright and clear,
There'll be two winters in the year.

From Germany:

For as the sun shines on Candlemas Day,
So far will the snow swirl until May.
For as the snow blows on Candlemas Day,
So far will the sun shine before May.

And from America:

If the sun shines on Groundhog Day;
Half the fuel and half the hay.

If the sun made an appearance on Candlemas Day, an animal would cast a shadow, thus predicting six more weeks of Winter.  Germans watched a badger for the shadow.  In Pennsylvania, the groundhog, upon waking from mid-Winter hibernation, was selected as the replacement.
Pennsylvania's official celebration of Groundhog Day began on February 2nd, 1886 with a proclamation in The Punxsutawney Spirit by the newspaper's editor, Clymer Freas: "Today is groundhog day and up to the time of going to press the beast has not seen its shadow."  The groundhog was given the name "Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators, and Weather Prophet Extraordinary'' and his hometown thus called the "Weather Capital of the World.''  His debut performance: no shadow - early Spring.
The legendary first trip to Gobbler's Knob was made the following year.

---

ince the 1993 release of the film Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray as a TV weatherman (who wakes up and it's Groundhog Day over and over again!) and Andie MacDowell as his puzzled producer, attendance at the real event has expanded.  In 1997, there were 35,000 visitors in Punxsutawney, five times the Jefferson County town's 6,700 population.
The Groundhog Day festivities on February 2, 1992 were joined by Bill Murray studying for his role in the movie.  Then, Columbia Pictures set out to recreate the Punxsutawney Groundhog Day down to the smallest detail.  There were, however, many changes made.

Columbia Pictures decided to film the movie in a location more accessible to a major metropolitan center.  The highways in and around Punxsutawney were few, so Woodstock, Illinois was chosen as the site.  Unfortunately, Woodstock's landscape doesn't have Pennsylvania's scenic rolling hills.  Nevertheless, adjustments were made for the production.  The actual Gobbler's Knob is a wooded hill with a beautiful view; the Gobbler's Knob in the movie is moved to the town square.  The Punxsutawney Gobbler's Knob was recreated to scale in Woodstock's town square based on detailed notes and videos the crew made on it's visit to Punxsutawney.    [Photo: © Columbia Pictures]
The movie's script was changed to include the elaborate ceremony of the Inner Circle on Groundhog Day.  The original groundhog cast for the movie was considered to be too small.

Some of the store names in Punxsutawney were used in the movie, such as The Smart Shop and Stewart's Drug Store.  Punxsutawney's police cars were also recreated for the movie.  The groundhog-head trash cans and Groundhog Festival flags that line the streets of Punxsutawney were displayed.  Folks traveling to Punxsutawney to see the "Punxsutawney" they saw in the movie wonder why it looks "so different, yet seems so similar."

he groundhog, also known as a woodchuck (Marmota monax), is a member of the squirrel family.  Groundhogs in the wild eat succulent green plants, such as dandelion, clover, and grasses.
According to handlers John Griffiths and Ben Hughes, Phil weighs 15 pounds and thrives on dog food and ice cream in his climate-controlled home at the Punxsutawney Library.

Up on Gobbler's Knob, Phil is placed in a heated burrow underneath a simulated tree stump on stage before being pulled out at 7:25 a.m. to make his prediction.

© Punxsutawney Chamber of Commerce


The groundhog's seasonal forecasting accuracy is somewhat low.
Phil's Winter prognostications have been correct only 39% of the time.

1887	Shadow; first official trip to Gobbler's Knob.
1888	Shadow (Six more weeks of Winter!)
1889	no record
1890	NO Shadow (early Spring!) [Birthdate: Charles Correll ("Andy" on radio's Amos & Andy)]
1891	no record
1892	no record
1893	no record
1894	no record
1895	no record
1896	no record
1897	no record
1898	Shadow
1899	no record
1900	Shadow
1901	Shadow  [Birthdate: Jascha Heifetz, violinist]
1902	NO Shadow
1903	Shadow
1904	Shadow
1905	Shadow  [Birthdate: Ayn Rand, novelist-philosopher]
1906	Shadow  [Birthdate: Gale Gordon, actor]
1907	Shadow
1908	Shadow  [Birthdate: Clarence "Buster" Crabbe, Olympic swimmer/actor]
1909	Shadow
1910	Shadow
1911	Shadow
1912	Shadow  [Birthdate: Burton Lane, Broadway composer]
1913	Shadow at 8:08 AM; first newspaper photo of Groundhog Day by John Frampton.
1914	Shadow at 9:34 AM
1915	Shadow at 11:45 AM; named Wiley William Woodchuck!
1916	Shadow at 9:07 AM; first movie film of Groundhog Day ceremony (17.5mm Birtac).
1917	Shadow
1918	Shadow; 18 degrees below zero.
1919	Shadow  [Birthdate: Forrest Tucker, actor]
1920	Shadow
1921	Shadow at 7:17 AM
1922	Shadow at 7:11 AM; Groundhog Holiday Dance.
1923	Shadow  [Birthdate: Liz Smith, gossip columnist]
1924	Shadow at 7:13 AM
1925	Shadow at 8:13 AM;   [Birthdate: Elaine Stritch, actress]
1926	Shadow at 9:17 AM
1927	Shadow at 8:35 AM;   [Birthdate: Stan Getz, jazz saxophonist]
1928	Shadow at 10:00 AM; program with Punx'y Rotary Club on KDKA Radio.
1929	Shadow
1930	Shadow at 7:11 AM
1931	Shadow at 12:27 PM
1932	Shadow at 9:11 AM
1933	Shadow
1934	NO Shadow.
1935	Shadow at 9:11 AM
1936	Shadow at 10:27 AM
1937	Shadow at 9:09 AM; early morning encounter with a skunk! [Birthdate: Tom Smothers, comedian]
1938	Shadow at 9:05 AM; "darkest shadow in history" (The Spirit, Feb. 2, 1938)
1939	Shadow at 9:10 AM
1940	Shadow at 9:00 AM
1941	Shadow at 4:25 PM
1942	Partial Shadow at 7:40 AM; "War clouds have blacked out parts of the shadow." (The Spirit, Feb. 2, 1942)  [Birthdate: Graham Nash, guitarist, singer]
1943	Groundhog did not appear; relied on Quarryville's prediction - NO Shadow
1944	Shadow at 9:10 AM
1945	Shadow at 9:00 AM
1946	Shadow at 7:52 AM
1947	Shadow at 7:37 AM; first newspaper photo of Groundhog Club at Gobbler's Knob [Birthdate: Farrah Fawcett, actress, model]
1948	Shadow at 8:46 AM;   [Birthdate: Jessica Savitch, NBC news anchor]
1949	Shadow at 7:32 AM;   [Birthdate: Brent Spiner, actor]
1950	NO Shadow
1951	Shadow at 8:41 AM
1952	Shadow at 7:52 AM; on NBC's Today Show on Monday, February 4
1953	Shadow at 7:38 AM;   [Birthdate: Penny Pulz, LPGA golfer]
1954	Shadow at 8:03 AM;   [Birthdate: Christie Brinkley, Cover Girl model]
1955	Shadow at 8:51 AM; 4" of snow on Groundhog Day; [Birthdate: Kim Zimmer, soap opera actress]
1956	Shadow at 8:33 AM
1957	Shadow at 7:47 AM
1958	Shadow at 8:27 AM;  [Birthdate: Holly Hunter, actress]
1959	Shadow at 8:23 AM
1960	Shadow at 7:33 AM; forecasts extremely bad weather on the Today show.
1961	Shadow at 7:41 AM; 25 below zero.
1962	Shadow at 7:29 AM;  [Birthdate: Garth Brooks, singer]
1963	Shadow at 7:41 AM
1964	Shadow at 7:35 AM
1965	Shadow at 7:58 AM
1966	Shadow at 7:21 AM
1967	Shadow at 7:25 AM
1968	Shadow at 7:29 AM
1969	Shadow at 7:29 AM
1970	NO Shadow
1971	Shadow at 7:29 AM; 14 below zero.
1972	Shadow at 7:30 AM
1973	Shadow at 7:29 AM
1974	Shadow at 7:28 AM
1975	NO Shadow
1976	Shadow at 7:29 AM
1977	Shadow at 7:27; in midst of the energy crisis.   [Birthdate: Shakira, singer]
1978	Shadow at 7:28 AM
1979	Shadow at 7:28 AM
1980	Shadow at 7:29 AM
1981	Shadow at 7:27 AM
1982	Shadow at 7:26 AM; coldest January this Century.
1983	NO Shadow; predicted an early Spring after a mild El Nino Winter.
1984	Shadow at 7:04 AM
1985	Shadow at 7:28 AM
1986	NO Shadow; visited President Reagan at the White House in March.
1987	Shadow at 7:29 AM
1988	NO Shadow
1989	Shadow
1990	NO Shadow
1991	Shadow
1992	Shadow
1993	Shadow; the movie Groundhog Day with Bill Murray is released.
1994	Shadow at 7:28 AM
1995	NO Shadow; afternoon guest on the "Oprah Winfrey" TV Show.
1996	Shadow at 7:21 AM
1997	NO Shadow; 35,000 watched at Gobbler's Knob
1998	Shadow at 7:20 AM; predicting six more weeks of a mild El Nino Winter!
1999	NO Shadow at 7:23 AM; 37º  rain
2000	Shadow at 7:28 AM; 12º overcast skies with flurries
2001	Shadow at 7:27 AM; 28º cloudy skies with light snow
2002	Shadow at 7:25 AM; 19º mist with a record 38,000 visitors driven to Gobbler's Knob by bus for security.
2003	Shadow at 7:27 AM; 30º overcast skies with PA Governor Ed Rendell attending the ceremony.
2004	Shadow at 7:27 AM; 17º clear skies with snow on the ground, crowd boos the forecast!
2005	Shadow at 7:31 AM; 14º clear skies with a wind chill of 3ºF.
2006	Shadow at 7:23 AM; 36º overcast skies with the crowd cheering the Steelers in Super Bowl XL.
2007	NO Shadow at 7:28 AM; 26º overcast skies with light snow and mist under a Full Moon.
2008	Shadow at 7:27 AM; 28º fog and mist with the crowd booing six more weeks of Winter.
2009	Shadow at 7:30 AM; 29º overcast skies as the crowd cheers the Steelers' Super Bowl XLIII victory.
2010	Shadow at 7:23 AM; 15º hazy sun and a visit from actor Stephen Tobolowsky (Ned Ryerson). Animal rights group PETA demands Punxsy Phil be replaced by a robot. LOL!
2011	NO Shadow at 7:25 AM; 34º with rain, snow, and ice covering Gobbler's Knob. The crowd cheers for Spring and Super Bowl XLV with the Steelers!
2012	Shadow at 7:24 AM; 30º overcast skies with PA Governor Tom Corbett attending the ceremony.
2013	NO Shadow at 7:28 AM; 8º overcast skies with a Saturday crowd of more than 30,000.

Shadow	100
NO Shadow	17
no record	9

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