Overview
- At daybreak on Feb. 2 in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, the Groundhog Club announced Phil saw his shadow at Gobbler’s Knob, triggering the traditional call for a longer winter.
- Tens of thousands of spectators braved single-digit Fahrenheit temperatures, and the extreme cold even curtailed the usual onstage photo moments with Phil, according to reports.
- Members of the Groundhog Club’s Inner Circle presented the verdict after a staged “Groundhogese” exchange and a scroll reading that a shadow was seen and six more weeks of winter would follow.
- The ritual, rooted in 19th-century custom and popularized globally by the 1993 film Groundhog Day, again drew widespread media attention as a cultural spectacle.
- Animal-welfare groups including PETA criticized the event for disturbing a hibernating animal and exposing it to crowds, renewing longstanding ethical concerns.