According to German folklore, if a hibernating groundhog pops out of his burrow on Feb. 2 and sees his shadow, he'll go back inside his burrow and winter will last six more weeks. If he doesn't see his shadow, there will be an early spring.
We in Bend always get a laugh out of the Groundhog Day tradition, because no matter what the frickin' groundhog does on Feb. 2 we KNOW the weather here is going to stay sucky until the middle of June.
Nevertheless, for the record, let it be stated that Punxsutawney Phil emerged from his burrow on Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, PA this morning and saw his shadow, meaning the rest of the Northern Hemisphere will have six more weeks of winter.
5 comments:
"We in Bend always get a laugh out of the Groundhog Day tradition, because no matter what the frickin' groundhog does on Feb. 2 we KNOW the weather here is going to stay sucky until the middle of June."
This is because we are using the wrong groundhog. Them PA porkypines aren't worth much for PNW weather. This has been determined.
We need our own critter.
I believe that a couple of years ago the High Desert Museum tried to promote one of their captive porcupines as the Bend version of Punxsutawney Phil. I guess that didn't work out too well because I haven't heard of them trying it again.
Do you have any other candidates to suggest?
FYI: The groundhog keepers in Punxsutawney have been doing their ritual with Phil every year since 1887 and they say he has seen his shadow 100 times, which means the odds of an early spring ain't ever good.
The Oregon Zoo has a hedgehog that it drags out of its burrow every Feb. 2 to predict the length of the winter: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/portland_hedgehog_predicts_six.html
It should be a rock chuck (Yellow Bellied Marmot that should be Bends ground hog.
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