Yesterday was Ground Hog Day. When I was growing up in Oklahoma, we called groundhogs Prairie Dogs or Woodchucks. A popular tongue twister when I was young was, “how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?” Turns out that woodchucks don’t move timber nearly as well as beavers, but most do chew wood. A wildlife biologist (with probably not enough to do) once measured the inside volume of a typical woodchuck burrow and estimated that, if wood filled the hole instead of dirt, the woodchuck would have chucked about 700 pounds worth. So if it ever comes up in conversation, the answer is – about 700 pounds.
But I digress – getting back to the groundhog, as far as I know it’s the only mammal to have a day named in his honor. Even though it’s not a legal holiday and people don’t exchange presents, or get off work, it’s still pretty cool to have a day named after you.
The “official” groundhog in the United States is “Punxsutawney Phil” who lives in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. According to legend or folklore, if Phil sees his shadow on February 2nd, there will be 6 more weeks of winter. If he doesn’t see his shadow, there will be an early spring. Since the groundhog’s first prediction in 1887, Phil has seen his shadow 99 times and failed to see it just 16 times. For some reason, nine years are missing in the records.
The official website of Punxsutawney Phil claims that the groundhog has been correct in his forecast 100% of the time. AccuWeather talks about groundhog day and admits Phil is fairly accurate: “Because the year’s coldest quarter, also know as meteorological winter, runs from Dec. 5 to March 5, Phil’s accuracy in predicting a longer winter is about 80%.” StormFax.com indicates that Phil has gotten it right just 39% of the time. But NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center doesn’t think much of Phil. They wrote “… no predictive skill for the groundhog during the most recent years.” Their article concluded: It really isn’t a “bright” idea to take a measure such as a groundhog’s shadow and use it as a predictive meteorological tool for the entire United States. Guess they never watch the local weather forecasters – I figure Phil stacks up pretty good against them….
The Ground Hog’s day tradition comes from German roots. German immigrants brought the tradition with them from Germany. As they settled in Pennsylvania, they began the tradition of using the groundhog to predict the arrival of spring. The tradition is based on Candlemas – the day that is the midpoint between Winter and Spring.
I kind of like Ground Hog Day – the holidays are mostly over and the weather is usually pretty crummy, the groundhog’s forecast is no less reliable than the National Weather Service and it’s fun to say “Punxsutawney.”
Just so you know, the only species that comes close to the deer population here in Deerfield Village is the groundhog – and our official Deerfield Village groundhog (Danny) did not see his shadow yesterday, so you can plan on an early spring.
You can choose to believe or not believe – some of us do, others think it’s like the groundhog’s laundry – Hogwash!!
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