2/2/12 GROUNDHOG PUNXSUTAWNEY PHIL CORRECT 39% of the TIME: "...According to Stormfax.com, Punxsutawney Phil has only been correct 39% of the time. Of course, long range forecasts can be difficult to predict for the human forecaster. For example, the 2011-2012 winter outlook for the United States and Europe was suppose to be a very cold winter during the months of December and January. Instead, most of these regions are experiencing warmer weather with less snowfall Recently, very cold temperatures have been over parts of centra Europe, and Alaska is once again experiencing extremely cold temperatures with lows as cold as -60°C. ..." http://earthsky.org/earth/groundhog-day-2012-how-accurate-is-punxsutawney-phil

GROUNDHOG PUNXSUTAWNEY PHIL CORRECT 39% of the TIME: "...According to Stormfax.com, Punxsutawney Phil has only been correct 39% of the time. Of course, long range forecasts can be difficult to predict for the human forecaster. For example, the 2011-2012 winter outlook for the United States and Europe was suppose to be a very cold winter during the months of December and January. Instead, most of these regions are experiencing warmer weather with less snowfall Recently, very cold temperatures have been over parts of centra Europe, and Alaska is once again experiencing extremely cold temperatures with lows as cold as -60°C. ..."

http://earthsky.org/earth/groundhog-day-2012-how-accurate-is-punxsutawney-phil

2/2/12 The CHRISTIAN ORIGINS of GROUNDHOG DAY:
"...thanks to God for the Light He has given us. It is also for this reason that candles are blessed on this holy day. The candles of the Church (and especially those to be taken home and used by the faithful) are blessed on this day, because they remind us that Christ is the “light of the world.” The associations of this feast with light is also where the hedgehogs come in Christian cultures have usually never let the feasts of the Church stay within the Church itself, but have exported them to the house and farm. So it was that in Europe (particularly Germany) there arose a folk custom that on the Feast of the Presentation (also called “Candlemas” because candles were blessed on that day) that if a hedgehog [badgers in some areas] should come out of his burrow and see the light (and thus..."

http://fatherstephen.wordpress.com/2011/01/29/candlewax-and-hedgehogs-groundhog-day-2/