Groundhog signals extended winter

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Posted 8:38AM on Saturday, February 2, 2002

PUNXSUTAWNEY, PENNSYLVANIA - Six more weeks of winter were predicted Saturday by Punxsutawney Phil as 40,000 people celebrated Groundhog Day at Gobbler's Knob. Phil also was expected to predict the outcome of the Super Bowl. Officials prepared for larger crowds than normal because Groundhog Day fell on a Saturday, and concerns about rowdy drinkers coupled with the Sept. 11 attacks led to stepped-up security at Phil's home. For the first time ever, organizers sold all 38,000 bus tickets to the event. The NFL playoffs might have attracted the attention of Phil's handlers, but the groundhog has an entirely different reason for emerging from his hole on Saturday, according to Stam Zervanos, associate professor of biology at Penn State University's Berks-Lehigh Valley College in Reading. ``They're not interested in the game right now,'' said Zervanos, who has spent years studying groundhog behavior. ``Basically, they arouse to mate.'' German superstition holds that if an animal sees its shadow on Feb. 2 - the Christian holiday of Candlemas - then bad weather is in store. A shadow on Saturday would mean six more weeks of winter. But Zervanos has another explanation for the groundhog's behavior this time of year. The animals awaken in January or February to mate, then return to their holes to resume their long winter's nap. ``They're going to mate, and they're going to go back into hibernation for about four weeks before they start feeding and having their young,'' Zervanos said. And after last week's games, Phil might want to go back to bed. The groundhog's handlers, the Inner Circle of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, announced in January that Phil would predict the outcome of the Super Bowl. After all, the nearby Pittsburgh Steelers were favored to win the AFC championship game, and across the state the Philadelphia Eagles were playing for the NFC title. Both Pennsylvania teams lost, but Phil was already on the line for a prediction. The St. Louis Rams will play the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl in New Orleans. The groundhog has a questionable record in his previous football predictions. In 1997, before the conference championship games Phil predicted that Jacksonville and Green Bay would play in the Super Bowl. The Packers made it, but Jacksonville was beaten by New England. At State College-based AccuWeather Inc., where science trumps superstition, meteorologists are predicting a Rams victory. ``I think the consensus here in the office is that St. Louis wins,'' AccuWeather senior meteorologist Bernie Rayno said. ``They probably win pulling away, but New England keeps it interesting two or three quarters before the Rams pull away in the fourth.'' AccuWeather also predicts that February and March will be slightly colder than usual around the Great Lakes and for much of the East Coast, while above-normal temperatures are expected in northern plains. In Punxsutawney, AccuWeather's long-range forecast calls for ``near to slightly below normal,'' Rayno said. ``I suspect that that translates into six more weeks of winter.''