COLUMBUS – As Columbus, and a large swath of the U.S., thaws out from a bitter polar vortex, Marion’s Buckeye Chuck and some of the country’s most famous prognosticating groundhogs predicted that spring will arrive early.
Just before 7:30 a.m. Saturday, Punxsutawney Phil, Chuck, Staten Island Chuck (no relation) and their colleagues emerged from their burrows at sunrise and didn’t see their shadows.
The festivities surrounding Groundhog Day have their origin in a German legend that says if a furry rodent casts a shadow on Feb. 2, winter continues. If not, spring comes early.
According to some researchers, groundhogs are solitary and antagonistic against each other, aggressively maintaining a feeding territory around their burrows and rarely having any contact with each other.
February is used to reestablish the bonds necessary for mating and ensures that mating can then proceed without delay in early March.
That, the scientists say, is why groundhogs temporarily emerge from their winter hibernation on Feb 2.
They couldn’t care less about the weather.