Phil doesn't spend a whole lot of time here -- in fact, one morning a year -- but it's a pretty nice house by groundhog standards. Phil comes up the hill to Gobbler's Knob on Feb. 2, and is pulled out of his temporary house once the television cameras are rolling. If he sees his shadow, it means six more weeks of winter.
This has been going on for more than a century. The procedure became formalized in 1887, but it is said to date back before that. February 2 marks the halfway point of winter, more or less, and people are looking for a sign that warmer days will be coming.
Gobbler's Knob is a nice little park, and worth a quick visit at any time of the year if you want to see how America's most famous silly holiday works. (That's written with great affection for the process.)
Here's a recap of how the ceremony looked in 2020. No one knew it at the time, of course, but it wouldn't be long before people would stop gathering in public places because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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