Groundhog day how does it work

And the weekends, it can be double that. Around sunrise, the club goes on stage and takes Punxsutawney Phil out of his stump. After he comes out into the early morning light, the Groundhog Club president listens close and translates Phil's forecast from Groundhogese to English.

Somehow, it always seems to rhyme. They then read the prognostication aloud to the gathered crowd. If Phil sees his shadow, there are six more weeks of winter.

If he doesn't see his shadow, this year will bring an early spring. Punxsutawney Groundhog Club insists there has only been one Phil in the year history of the holiday.

And though Groundhog Day started here in , its roots go back even farther. The holiday is adapted from the European tradition of Candlemas Day.

The holiday's pagan traditions were strong in Germany and Scotland, which also used the date to predict the weather. In Germany, tradition involved waking up a badger and seeing whether it would crawl back into its burrow as a sign of bad weather ahead. On January 30, North Vietnamese forces struck suddenly and with shocking force at targets throughout the South, taking the South Vietnamese and their American allies by surprise and turning the tide of a The transportation hub as we know it today began construction in , but before that 89 E 42nd was home to an older steam train station built in Even though the station had been updated On February 2, , Philip Seymour Hoffman, considered one of the most talented and versatile actors of his generation, dies of an accidental drug overdose at age 46 in New York City.

One week after toppling the regime of Ugandan leader Milton Obote, Major General Idi Amin declares himself president of Uganda and chief of the armed forces. Amin, head of the Ugandan army and air force since , seized power while Obote was out of the country.

Ruling directly, Aided by its Thirty-one public officials were targeted for investigation, including Representative John Murphy of New York, five other representatives, and Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox.

The first U. Air Force plane is lost in South Vietnam. The C aircraft crashed while spraying defoliant on a Viet Cong ambush site. The aircraft was part of Operation Ranch Hand, a technological area-denial technique designed to expose the roads and trails used by the Viet The first official game of The day is largely based in weather trends.

According to the tradition, if a groundhog emerges from its burrow and sees its shadow due to clear weather, it will retreat into its den and winter will persist for six more weeks. But if it does not see its shadow because of cloudiness, spring will arrive early. According to the Almanac, Groundhog Day is rooted in astronomy and was originally a Celtic festival.

It has also been called St. Originally, however, there were no groundhogs for this festival so other animals were used such as bears and badgers.