How did we come to celebrate our favorite weather-predicting rodent on Groundhog Day? It actually has a tie-in with astronomy and the time of year.
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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 It's the famous day when many look to a groundhog
00:09 to predict the weather.
00:11 But how did this iconic rodent get
00:13 to be associated with the weather?
00:16 It actually has a tie in with astronomy, believe it or not.
00:19 Groundhog's Day is connected to the sun's movement
00:21 across the sky.
00:23 It falls in one of the four cross-quarter days
00:26 between seasons.
00:28 In this case, the winter solstice
00:30 and the vernal equinox.
00:32 Other near midway points throughout the year
00:34 include May Day and Halloween.
00:37 According to tradition, if a groundhog
00:40 pops out of his burrow at winter's midway point
00:42 and sees his shadow, then I'm afraid
00:45 we'd have to endure six more weeks of winter.
00:47 If he doesn't, then that means spring might just
00:50 be around the corner.
00:52 Reporting for AccuWeather, I'm meteorologist Jeff Cornish.
00:55 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:58 (upbeat music)