Shadow not recognized

Groundhog Day: “Phil” sees spring coming

(Bild: AP)

Large parts of the USA have just recovered from the icy temperatures of the past few weeks - and the world-famous groundhog "Phil" is now giving the country hope that spring will soon arrive. On Friday, the 138th Groundhog Day, the rodent from the small town of Punxsutawney in the state of Pennsylvania was unable to see his shadow, a sign that the harsh winter will soon give way to a mild spring. Watch the entire ceremony in the video above!

Thousands cheered "Phil" in freezing temperatures after this forecast. Tradition dictates that the members of the "Inner Circle" of the "Groundhog Club" take the groundhog out of his tree stump at sunrise and question him.

"Phil" has been predicting the weather for 130 years
For over 130 years, "Phil" has allegedly always made correct predictions. The "Groundhog Club" explains that any discrepancy between the actual weather and "Phil's" forecast is due to translation errors, not a misprediction. In fact, the groundhog is correct in less than half of all cases - a coin toss would be a more accurate forecast.

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The tradition, which is observed worldwide on February 2, was probably brought to Pennsylvania by German immigrants. It became particularly well known thanks to the 1993 Hollywood film "Groundhog Day", starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell.