On February 2, tens of thousands will gather at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney,Pennsylvania, for Groundhog’s Day. Punxsutawney, located approximately90 miles northeast of Pittsburg in Western Pennsylvania, was originallya campsite located on Mahoning Creek between the Allegheny and Susquehanna rivers. Today, itis home to more than 6,500 residents and Punxsutawney Phil, theworld-renowned groundhog.
The Germans who settled the town brought with them the traditionwhich we now know as Groundhog’s Day. As the legend goes, if thegroundhog sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter;no shadow and spring is soon approaching! In 1886, a local group ofhunters founded the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, created a homefor the groundhog on Gobbler’s hill, and dubbed the groundhogPunxsutawney Phil, “The Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator ofPrognosticators, and Weather Prophet Extraordinary.”
Today’s Punxsutawney Phil lives in a climate-controlled groundhog zoolocated in the children’s library of the Punxsutawney civic center andonce a year is brought to Gobbler’s hill to make his lofty prediction.
This image is a combination of the red, green, blue, and panchromatic bands of Landsat7’s Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus instrument; the spatial resolution is 15meters per pixel. The Landsat image was acquired on September 17, 2001.
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Image courtesy of the Landsat Project Science Office
