The sleepy groundhog stretches

For hundreds of years, on February 2, people have wondered if the groundhog would awake to see his shadow.

The day probably started with the feast of Candlemas, which celebrates the Biblical story of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. On February 2, exactly 40 days after Christmas, people hoped for the end of the dark days of winter but perhaps were loathe to be too confident. The saying was, “If Candlemas be fair and clear, there will be two winters in the year.”

So, curiously that saying morphed into a groundhog or badger or some other creature who, when awakened on February 2, sees his shadow, and thus predict six more weeks of winter. Or doesn’t see it. Thus we start spring.

The date of February 2 is also thought to correspond to hibernation patterns. German farmers thought that if a badger emerged from his burrow and saw his shadow there would be six more weeks of winter. By 1841, German farmers in Pennsylvania were again marking the day, this time with a groundhog’s shadow.

As it turns out, both the groundhog and the badger have not been very good weather predictors. According to the National Climatic Data Center, groundhog predictions have been correct 39 percent of the time since 1887.