Punxsutawney Phil emerged from his burrow Friday morning and delivered the news the crowd was hoping for: no shadow and an early spring.
Upon the announcement, a loud cheer burst from the thousands gathered around Gobbler’s Knob for the annual Groundhog Day prediction.
The groundhog club said this year might be the biggest Groundhog Day ever.
Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction came at 7:25 a.m. with the sunrise.
The #GroundhogDay results are in!
Phil didn’t see his shadow, meaning we'll have... an early spring! #sponsored by @bmsnewspic.twitter.com/puEpd8B5Nx
— The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) February 2, 2024
Revelers arrived early by the thousands for what has become the largest and best-known Groundhog Day celebration in the United States.
Before the announcement, Punxsutawney Groundhog Club President Tom Dunkel told the crowd that a cane he held gave him the power to speak “Groundhog-ese” and that Phil would tell him which of two scrolls to use. At Dunkel’s direction, the crowd repeated chants of “Phil!” before a club member pulled the groundhog from a door in a stump on the stage.
Dunkel and other club members leaned over the stump where the groundhog sat before revealing the prediction.
Vice President Dan McGinley read from a scroll as he announced, “Glad tidings on this Groundhog Day, an early spring is on the way!”
Crowds began to gather at 3 a.m. when Gobbler’s Knob opened.
Some came from a few states away.
Nicole Eggleston made the trip from Parksville, Kentucky, with her girlfriends to see Phil emerge.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” she said of her experience. “Lots of people. It’s been kind of awesome. Everybody’s happy and in a good mood.”
No surprise: Eggleston, 47, was hoping for an early spring prediction.
James Makar and Kevin Markis traveled from Rochester, New York to see Phil. They wore black coats and top hats mimicking the Inner Circle’s outfits.
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“Well, we wanted to fit in,” said Markis, 38. “We started with a top hat, and … the rest fell into place.”
Makar, 37, said he thought it was just how people in Punxsutawney dressed. He was surprised more people weren’t wearing similar get-ups.
They arrived on Thursday and stayed in an Airbnb.
“I had no idea what to expect or how many people would be here — it’s insane,” Makar said.
Markis said he’s “pumped” to have an early spring.
“It was delightful,” he said of the morning. “It was a magical moment in time.”
Makar said he would’ve probably been happy either way, as he likes winter, too.
“I took the ‘Phil pill,’ and I’m feeling OK,” Markis said of the prognostication.
Others traveled shorter distances, including many college students.
Lindsey Russo, a senior at Penn State majoring in public relations, came with her group of best friends. The trek was on their bucket list for senior year.
“We just thought it would be funny,” said Russo, 22, of Havertown. “Literally, we just thought it would be a silly experience.”
She said she noticed that Gobbler’s Knob was “flooded” with college students like her. At Penn State, some said they were also attending, but others hadn’t even heard of Groundhog Day.
“I feel like the people that are not from (Pennsylvania) don’t even really understand like what this is,” said Russo, who is from Philadelphia.
When she got off the shuttle, she said the atmosphere was crazy. The group got up at 3 a.m. to make the approximately 90-minute drive from State College.
“We’re really tired, but it’s all good,” Russo said.
Gov. Josh Shapiro took the stage Friday morning to urge people around the world watching the festivities to come to Punxsutawney next year.
“Punxsutawney is the center of the universe right now, and I love that you’re all here,” Shapiro said.
Katie Wolf has been watching Phil’s prognostication for around 20 years.
“Groundhog Day’s my favorite holiday,” said Wolf, 45, of New Cumberland.
She said she loves the morning fireworks; she’s attended with various friends over the years.
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“Excitement at 6 in the morning,” Wolf said. “Where else do you get this in the winter in a far-from-anywhere kind of place?”
If you missed it all, watch this morning’s proceedings as they happened live:
Here are 5 things to know about Groundhog Day.
So, what has Phil predicted in the past? And just how accurate was he when compared to the temperatures that Pittsburgh ended up getting?
Just over an hour until Punxsutawney Phil makes his prognostication here at Gobbler’s Knob.
Stay tuned for more @TribLIVEpic.twitter.com/P5rZxQBO7W
— Megan Swift (@mgswift7) February 2, 2024
Here’s a 2023 story about the locals in Punxsutawney.
The tradition of celebrating the midpoint between the shortest day of the year on the winter solstice and the spring equinox goes back many centuries in European farm life.
Jenny White and her daughter, Murphy White, have been running a hot chocolate stand for attendees of Groundhog Day out in front of their house for around six years now.
“We would see so many people coming, and lots of years, they looked very cold, so we thought hot chocolate would warm them up,” said Jenny White, 51.
Their house is located just down the hill from Gobbler’s Knob, the site of the prognostication, and people can stop for hot chocolate on their walk to or from the event.
They also offered cookies this year, both peanut butter and sugar, that were dipped in chocolate to represent Phil coming out of his burrow.
“You have to have a groundhog cookie on Groundhog Day,” White said.
Jenny White graduated from the local high school and grew up just outside of Punxsy, she said. Running the hot chocolate stand is now her favorite part of Groundhog Day.
The last time she went up the hill to watch the prognostication was when she was pregnant with her daughter, Murphy — who is now 21.
Murphy White is a junior at Indiana University of Pennsylvania majoring in nutrition and dietetics. This year was her first watching the action in person — despite living so close by.
“Getting an early spring for the first time I’ve been there was really exciting,” she said.
The mother and daughter pair have served hot chocolate to people from all over the world.
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“I’ve had New Zealand, Australia, China, Philippines — just about every country in Europe I can think of — every state … but by and large it’s Pennsylvania,” Jenny White said.
Both said they love watching the town come to life.
“Seeing people experience what I’ve experienced for years for the first time — it’s, like, really wholesome,” Murphy White said.
There are more than a dozen active groundhog clubs in Pennsylvania, some dating back to the 1930s, and weather-predicting groundhogs have appeared in at least 28 U.S. states and Canadian provinces.
The 1993 blockbuster film “Groundhog Day,” starring Bill Murray, fueled interest in Punxsutawney Phil and inspired informal observations far and wide.
When he’s not making his annual prognostication, Phil lives in a customized space beside the Punxsutawney Memorial Library, with a window where library patrons can check out his burrow. Back in 2009, library workers said Phil had somehow managed to escape three times, climbing into the library ceiling and dropping into offices about 50 feet away.
He wasn’t injured.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Megan Swift is a TribLive reporter covering trending news in Western Pennsylvania. A Murrysville native, she joined the Trib full time in 2023 after serving as editor-in-chief of The Daily Collegian at Penn State. She previously worked as a Jim Borden Scholarship intern at the Trib for three summers. She can be reached at mswift@triblive.com.