Pennsylvania’s Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow Sunday and predicted six more weeks of wintry weather.
The woodchuck’s weather forecast is an annual ritual that goes back more than a century in western Pennsylvania, with far older roots in European folklore.
When Phil is deemed to have not seen his shadow, that is said to usher in an early spring. When he does see it, there will be six more weeks of winter. Phil has predicted a longer winter far more often than an early spring, and one effort to track his accuracy concluded he was right less than half the time—though what six more weeks of winter means is a little subjective.