February 2nd marked the 130th celebration of Groundhog’s Day in which the the famous Pennsylvania groundhog makes his predictions relating to the next six weeks of winter or spring weather. That groundhog, better known as Punxsutawney Phil, delivers his predictions based upon the appearance or lack of appearance of his own shadow.

This year, Phil saw his shadow which means he predicts six more weeks of a bitter cold winter, despite many hopes for a fast approaching spring.

This famous old tradition dates way back to 1887, where Germans brought the idea to America and settled in the state of Pennsylvania. In the earlier years of Groundhog Day, they did not actually even use groundhogs, but hedgehogs! The reason for the use of hedgehogs in this experimental prediction and intriguing event is because hedgehogs were an easily accessible and abundant resource which could be found everywhere in PA.

The rodent was named Punxsutawney Phil because the founding fathers of Groundhog Day were living at the time in Punxsutawney, PA where the tradition is still continued today.

Whether one chooses to believe his predictions or not, according to data, Punxsutawney Phil has been correct