Groundhog Day: Punxsatawney Phil & Woodstock Willie Concur… Early Spring or Late Winter?

So, we’ve got six more weeks of winter?!  The furry officials say it’s so.

The nation’s most famous ground hog, Punxsatawney Phil, emerged from his landmark hutch in Pennsylvania, as he has done since the 1880’s, and saw his shadow, on this Groundhog Day.

ABC7 reports that our local groundhog with weather expertise, Woodstock Willie, saw his shadow, as well, after he had to be pulled out of his little tree-stump hutch, very reluctantly, this morning.  Up in Woodstock, this means the “see-er of see-ers, prognosticator of prognosticators” calls for a late start for Spring.  Willie, who’s arguably world famous as a movie star, said to the mayor, in “groundhog-ese,” that he saw a pretty defined shadow, across a layer of snow.

Woodstock is a McHenry County city, here in Illinois, near the border with Wisconsin.  It’s where most of the famous movie, “Groundhog Day,” was filmed with Bill Murray, back in 1992, for its 1993 release.  So, this is the 30th anniversary of the iconic film, which also starred Andie McDowell.

The theme of the movie is to “get up and try again.”  Ironically, Punxsatawney Phil (played masterfully by Willie) has only been 40% accurate, over the last ten years, according to the Wall Street Journal.