Six More Weeks Of Winter, Punxsutawney Phil Says

Pennsylvania legend Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow Thursday morning, calling for six more weeks of winter.

The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, Gov. Josh Shapiro, and thousands of people made the pilgrimage to Gobbler’s Knob in the western part of the state to see the groundhog’s 2023 prediction.

This is the 108th time in the 137-year-old tradition that Phil has failed to see his shadow, indicating that there will be a few more weeks of winter.

“Every February 2 it’s amazing see the faithful followers of Punxsutawney Phil who gather early in the morning at Gobbler’s Knob. You can feel the excitement and energy from the crowd. Through our online ticket sales, we can now see where our guests are coming from. We sent ticket packets to 46 different states across the U.S. and over 30 different countries around the world,” said Thomas A. Dunkel, president of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. “That’s what makes talking to our bucket list visitors so much fun and interesting.”

More than 20,000 guests this year attended the event in person and enjoyed hot drinks, snacks, and live music.

The yearly celebration, which is enjoyed by both locals and tourists, began in 1887 when a group of groundhog hunters declared Punxsutawney Phil to be the one and only groundhog capable of predicting the weather. Since then, a large crowd gathers on February 2 to see the groundhog come out. The groundhog will see his shadow, and if he does, six more weeks of winter weather will be ahead. Phil guarantees an early spring should he fail to detect his own shadow.

Regardless of what Punxsutawney Phil said, according to science, winter will come to an end on the equinox on March 20.

Lower Bucks County hasn’t seen much winter with warmer-than-average temperatures and almost no snow.