Groundhog’s verdict:
more winter
Six more weeks as Punxsutawney Phil
sees his shadow
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa., Feb. 2 — Don’t put those sweaters away yet. As an anxious crowd shivered in 33-degree temperatures early Sunday, Punxsutawney Phil emerged from his burrow and saw his shadow on Gobbler’s Knob, suggesting another six weeks of wintry weather.
KATHLEEN PERDY, a fifth grade teacher from Alliance, Ohio, joined thousands in the predawn chill.
Her 26-year-old son had been deployed to the Middle East on Saturday, the same day the nation grieved the lost astronauts aboard space shuttle Columbia, but Perdy tried to stay positive.
“Life goes on. You learn you have to value your time, and you have to respect each other. Most importantly, you have to have fun,” she said.
The crowd watched fireworks and danced to stay warm. Then they sang the national anthem, with flags set at half-staff.
Groundhog Day organizers expected the weekend crowd to top 30,000 this year. Attendance has ballooned so much since the movie “Groundhog Day” was released in 1993 that shuttle buses are now used to bring visitors up to Gobbler’s Knob. Last year, Phil also saw his shadow.
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The Groundhog Day tradition is rooted in a German superstition that if an animal casts a shadow on Feb. 2 — the Christian holiday of Candlemas — bad weather is coming.
For those unhappy with Phil’s forecast this year, Ohio’s official version of the groundhog had a different take on the weather: Buckeye Chuck emerged from his burrow outside a Marion, Ohio, radio station Sunday, and did not see his shadow.
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