What’s the weather like in YOUR neck of the woods?

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Oh, no! Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow! That means 6 more weeks of winter. Can it be true?

The tradition is that if a groundhog sees his shadow while looking around in February, he will get scared and go back into his burrow, not to come out until March.

Thus, the idea of six more weeks of winter was born.

A groundhog, or whistle pig, goes into hibernation in the late fall. Male groundhogs emerge from their burrows to look for a mate in February then go underground again. Both genders come out of hibernation for good in March. They are the ideal animal for this tradition.

In 1887, the Punxsutawney newspaper declared that Phil, the Punxsutawney groundhog, was America’s only true weather-forecasting groundhog. Today, thousands of people converge on Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney each February 2 to witness Phil’s prediction. The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club hosts a three-day festival celebrating the event.

By the way, a groundhog is famous for one other thing. It’s also known as a woodchuck, as in “how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?”

So, what’s the weather like in YOUR neck of the woods?

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