Winter is coming?
January 28, 2019 8:42 AM   Subscribe

Punxsutawney Phil isn't the only weather-predicting groundhog. Staten Island Chuck gained fame for biting Bloomberg and fleeing from de Blasio. Georgia has Gen. Beauregard Lee (yes, really), Ohio has Buckeye Chuck (more beloved than fellow Marion native Warren G. Harding), Nova Scotia boasts Shubenacadie Sam (the furthest-east, and thus the first to emerge), and Ontario is home to albino groundhog Wiarton Willie. CBC reports on Alberta's Balzac Billy, who is actually a guy in a groundhog suit. Washington, DC, however, has something truly special: Potomac Phil, a dead, stuffed groundhog who is trotted out every year for the Dupont Festival. He has his own Twitter account, of course. He got his own float in Capital Pride, too. HuffPo reports on Potomac Phil's origins. (Previously on MeFi: Groundhog recipes.)
posted by duffell (19 comments total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
“This is pitiful. A thousand people freezing their butts off waiting to worship a rat. What a hype. Groundhog Day used to mean something in this town. They used to pull the hog out, and they used to eat it. You're hypocrites, all of you!”
posted by Fizz at 9:32 AM on January 28, 2019 [4 favorites]


My money'd be on the albino.
posted by tspae at 9:43 AM on January 28, 2019


I watched the movie over the weekend for reasons, and this really resonated:

"When Chekhov saw the long winter, he saw a winter bleak and dark and bereft of hope. Yet we know that winter is just another step in the cycle of life. But standing here among the people of Punxsutawney and basking in the warmth of their hearths and hearts, I couldn't imagine a better fate than a long and lustrous winter. From Punxsutawney, it's Phil Connors. So long."

It's cold in Toronto today, and where I am right this second it's a white-out!!!, but this year I believe spring's gonna come.

(Being an American-by-birth, Canadian-by-choice, there is no groundhog but the one true Phil.)
posted by wellred at 10:19 AM on January 28, 2019 [1 favorite]


Connecticut's official state groundhog is "Chuckles" (we are currently on Chuckles IX). He lives at a children's museum in Manchester, CT.

Apparently last year Chuckles embarrassed himself a little:

Perhaps a bit stagestruck, Chuckles relieved his bladder before prognosticating, narrowly missing [Manchester Mayor Jay] Moran’s dark suit.

“It’s part of being mayor; this happens everywhere,” Moran said.

posted by dlugoczaj at 10:38 AM on January 28, 2019 [2 favorites]


I remember living in the Northeast and being relieved at the prospect of only 6 more weeks of winter.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 11:41 AM on January 28, 2019 [2 favorites]


Staten Island Chuck gained fame for biting Bloomberg and fleeing from de Blasio.

direct action
posted by poffin boffin at 11:50 AM on January 28, 2019 [1 favorite]


I remember living in the Northeast and being relieved at the prospect of only 6 more weeks of winter.

TRUE SCIENTIFIC FACT

I feed on feelings like this and use them to fuel my prayers to the winter gods.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 12:08 PM on January 28, 2019 [1 favorite]


Who needs a groundhog? I get my spring forecast from Saltville VA's Woolly the Mammoth and his sidekick Little Salty.

If you don't want to take advice from a groundhog, there also Bee Cave Bob the armadillo from Bee Cave Texas, Quilliam the Hedgehog in Dayton Ohio, Prairie Dog Pete in Lubbock, and Spike the Porcupine in Duluth.
posted by peeedro at 12:33 PM on January 28, 2019 [1 favorite]


There's also Agua Fria Freddie who claims to be 98.8% accurate when it comes to predicting the weather in Arizona.
posted by peeedro at 12:47 PM on January 28, 2019


Also Pisgah Pete, the prognosticating White Squirrel

Full disclosure: my day job includes doing some tourism writing for Pisgah Pete’s county of origin. Pisgah Pete is adorable.
posted by thivaia at 12:50 PM on January 28, 2019 [1 favorite]


The award for not doing it right goes to Harrisburg PA's Shipoke Sheena, a dog dressed as a bear pretending to be a groundhog.
posted by peeedro at 1:15 PM on January 28, 2019


The best named prognosticator might be Pierre C. Shadeaux the weather-predicting nutria from New Iberia, La. The best tophat award goes to Flatiron Freddy, Boulder's stuffed yellow-bellied marmot.
posted by peeedro at 1:34 PM on January 28, 2019 [1 favorite]


Pennsylvania predictors: Octoraro Orphie is the One True Groundhog, thankyewverymuch. He can fight it out with Grover of Pine Grove and Sweet Arrow Sue...
posted by MonkeyToes at 1:43 PM on January 28, 2019


The best named prognosticator might be Pierre C. Shadeaux the weather-predicting nutria from New Iberia, La.

Claude: Hey, how much more Louisiana can we get than a weather-predicting nutria rat named “Pierre C. Shadeaux”?
Marcel: None. None more Louisiana.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 1:45 PM on January 28, 2019 [1 favorite]


Every year from 1903 to 1933 Punxsutawney Phil predicted a long winter. This was probably the time period in which Game of Thrones took place.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 4:10 PM on January 28, 2019


There is only the one, the true Phil and no other. Unless you are my brother, who has a love/hate relationship with Phil. His reserve unit was located in Punxsy and one of their services to the community was crowd control on Groundhog Day.

I grew up 20 miles from Punsxy. I am unashamed of my bias.
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs at 4:10 PM on January 28, 2019 [1 favorite]


Driving thru Punxsy and seeing all the Phil related things.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 4:33 PM on January 28, 2019


I've only just realised that Groundhog Day is Candlemas, which corresponds to the Celtic feast of Imbolc, which marks the start of spring, and the whole weather-forecasting thing goes back a very long way indeed.
posted by Fuchsoid at 5:32 PM on January 28, 2019 [2 favorites]


Story idea: some sort of creature emerges from underwater, letting us know that in 6 weeks the stars will be right.
posted by kurumi at 8:07 PM on January 29, 2019


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