Tomorrow is ground hog day, and it appears that ol' Phil from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, won't see his shadow, since the northeast is under a storm watch. Legend has it that outcome suggests an early spring thaw.
The ground hog/marmot/woodchuck is actually an oversized ground squirrel. The myth that these rodents can predict the weather apparently came with the misnamed Pennsylvania "Dutch" who were ethnic Germans.
I have watched a colony of ground hogs, or their alpine relatives, along the north shore of Lake Yellowstone, where they bask in the sun. They hibernate through the long high-altitude winter, as do their more diminutive relatives, the Uinta ground squirrels locally known as "picket pins."
History Note: The first serious federal presence in Yellowstone after its designation as a national park was a unit of cavalry. If you tour the old buildings of Mammoth Village in northern Yellowstone you'll see the officers' quarters, barracks, stables, etc. of a late 1800s U.S. Army post called Fort Yellowstone. The nickname "picket pin" comes from the ground squirrels' upright resemblance to the metal pegs these cavalrymen used to tether their mounts.
Later: Reports are Phil did see his shadow, so six more weeks of winter are predicted by this folk indicator.
