On February 2, tens of thousands will gather at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, for Groundhog’s Day. Punxsutawney, located approximately 90 miles northeast of Pittsburg in Western Pennsylvania, was originally a campsite located on Mahoning Creek between the Allegheny and Susquehanna rivers. Today, it is home to more than 6,500 residents and Punxsutawney Phil, the world-renowned groundhog.
The Germans who settled the town brought with them the tradition which we now know as Groundhog’s Day. As the legend goes, if the groundhog sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter; no shadow and spring is soon approaching! In 1886, a local group of hunters founded the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, created a home for the groundhog on Gobbler’s hill, and dubbed the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil, “The Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators, and Weather Prophet Extraordinary.”
Today’s Punxsutawney Phil lives in a climate-controlled groundhog zoo located in the children’s library of the Punxsutawney civic center and once a year is brought to Gobbler’s hill to make his lofty prediction.
This image is a combination of the red, green, blue, and panchromatic bands of Landsat 7’s Enhanced Thematic Mapper plus instrument; the spatial resolution is 15 meters per pixel. The Landsat image was acquired on September 17, 2001.
Image courtesy of the Landsat Project Science Office
