• The tradition of predicting weather on February 2, dates back to the Dark Ages. Peasants and farmers first noticed a strong connection between a bright, sunny, medieval Candlemas Day and long, dreary winter weather extending into the next 6 weeks.
• Punxsutawney PA held the first Groundhog Day in the 1800’s.
• Punxsutawney Phil has been at Gobbler’s Knob, predicting whether spring is near, since February 2, 1887.
• Phil sees his shadow about 9 out of 10 times.
• Punxsutawney Phil is the only true weather forecasting groundhog. There are others……. All others are imposters.
• When he’s not at Gobbler’s Knob, Punxsutawney Phil and 3 other groundhogs, including his wife, Phyllis, live in the children’s portion of the Punxsutawney Memorial Library.
• A groundhog can whistle when it is alarmed. Groundhogs also whistle in the spring when they begin courting.
• The celebration of Groundhog Day began with German immigrants, Pennsylvania’s earliest settlers. They brought with them the legend of Candlemas Day, which states “For as the sun shines on Candlemas day, so far will the snow swirl in May…”.  In Germany, they used Hedgehogs to predict weather. The settlers found that groundhogs were plentiful and were the most intelligent and sensible animal to carry on the legend of Candlemas Day.
• Groundhog Day the movie, premiered in 1993.
• During the filming of Groundhog Day, Bill Murray was bitten by the groundhog twice during shooting. He had to have rabies shots.
• Punxsutawney Phil is not the only one to come out on February 2 to make a prediction on when winter will be over. He is by far the best known. Others include Buckeye Chuck in Ohio and General Beauregard Lee in Georgia.

Also see; All about Groundhog’s Day