Groundhog's Day 2007

Well, it's official, according to the infamous Punxsutawney Phil there will be an early Spring this year. He didn't see his shadow. The official prediction read at 7:28 AM EST says:

"El Nino has caused high winds,

heavy snow, ice and freezing temperatures in the west.

Here in the East with much mild winter

weather we have been blessed.

Global warming has caused a great debate.

This mild winter makes it seem just great.

On this Groundhog Day we think of one thing.

Will we have winter or will we have spring?

On Gobbler's Knob I see no shadow today.

I predict that early spring is on the way."

Punxsutawney Phil isn't the only prognostocating groundhog. In the upper midwest we have own own weather expert, Jimmy the Groundhog. Jimmy lives in Sun Prairie, WI & comes out a little after 7 am CST every year to make his prediction. Unlike Phil, his prediction this year is for "Six more weeks of winter".

Amazingly (or not) those are the same predictions for their regions as those that are in in the 2007 edition of The Old Farmer's Almanac's weather pages.

Punxsutawney claims that "Punxsutawney Phil is the only true weather forecasting groundhog. The others are just impostors." They also claim that he is the original Phil from when the celebration started in 1887. The reason he is still alive: "Punxsutawney Phil gets his longevity from drinking the "elixir of life," a secret recipe. Phil takes one sip every summer at the Groundhog Picnic and it magically gives him seven more years of life." They claim that the predictions aren't written in advance. He makes his prediction after he " emerges from his burrow on February 2, he speaks to the Groundhog Club president in "Groundhogese"(a language only understood by the current president of the Inner Circle). His proclamation is then translated for the world."

Jimmy doesn't claim to be the original. He is actually the eighth in line of that name to have the honor. He was born in 2000 & began to make his predictions in 2001 taking over from his father Jimmy VII. His home in Sun Prairie WI was recognized in the 2 February 1955 Congressional Record as the Groundhog Capital of the World. But Jimmy does get some special treatment each year. He is brought to the place where he makes his prediction on a fire truck he wears a top hat & tie. He whispers his prediction in Groundhogese to the mayor. over the next 2 days he makes appearances at several events. His son, Jimmy IX is now 3 yrs old & in training to take over.

Groundhogs, aka woodchucks or whistlepigs are a rodent related to the squirrel. They live up to 6 yrs in the wild & 10 in captivity. There are plenty of them here in DBG & they have a waddling motion when they move that has its own beauty.

The legend is that if the groundhog sees his shadow it scares him back into his burrow & there will be 6 more weeks of Winter, if he doesn't see it, he stays out to get some food, & there will be an early Spring. The actual tradtion is slightly different. If the groundhog saw his shadow on Groundhog Day there would be six more weeks of winter. If he didn't, there would be 42 more days of winter. In other words the same day, about the actual calendar 1st Day of Spring. The earlier tradition that was melded with the tradition of the groundhog was that the weather on Candlemas Day determined if there would be an early Spring. Clear skies ment more Winter, cloudy an early Spring. The tradition in the USA of Groundhog Day started in Pennsylvania by the German immigrants.

However, even though I am 1/4 Pennsylvania Dutch German I will trust Jimmy a little better. He is much closer to DBQ. & if you follow the Candlemas tradition, we had sunny skies in DBQ so we still have 6 weeks of Winter, like Jimmy said.

Anyway, I leave you with the age old question about groundhogs: "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"

& in case you don't know, the answer is simple: "A woodchuck would chuck as much wood as a woodchuck could chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood."

Photo credits:

1st: Punxsutawney Phil (AP via FoxNews)

2nd: Jimmy the Groundhog (Jimmy's Website)