LANCASTER – Punxsutawney Phil and Octorara Orphie have made their weather predictions of either six more weeks of winter or an early spring. Groundhog Day is part of a tradition rooted in European agricultural life and marks the midpoint between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. Crowds gathered this morning at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney as Phil told attendees that did not see his shadow; therefore, an early spring is in the forecast. The roughly 240 members of the Slumbering Groundhog Lodge in Quarryville, Lancaster County, report the forecast from Orphie. Quarryville Lodge Board Chair Charlie Hart said Orphie as a far better forecaster than Phil. Orphie’s prediction is that six more weeks of winter is on the horizon.
