Those of us who grew up in the 90s hold a special place in our hearts for the movie Groundhog Day, known in Spain as “Atrapado en el tiempo” (yes, it was the golden age of movie title translations) and in Latin America as “El día de la marmota”, the title by which most of the audience knows it.
The movie, starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell, tells us about the particular hell that an arrogant meteorologist suffers when he visits the town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, where he experiences an inexplicable time loop that makes him relive the same Monday over and over again.
Groundhog Day is based on an event of the same name that takes place every year in real life in this town in Pennsylvania, where the behavior of a local groundhog “predicts” the end of winter. According to this tradition, if this groundhog sees its shadow, it will stay in its burrow, which means there will be six more weeks of winter. In the event that it does not see it, it will leave the burrow, thus signaling the arrival of spring.
Today, like every year, it’s time to see if winter will continue for at least another month and a half or if, on the contrary, climate change will make Phil, the official mascot of Punxsutawney, venture out of his burrow, marking the beginning of an early spring.
However, as many may already suspect, this tradition doesn’t have much scientific basis, which results in a rather low accuracy rate. So far, the different generations of Phil have predicted 6 more weeks of winter on 108 occasions and only 20 early springs, being correct only 39% of the time.
What will happen today? Will we get to see Phil leaving his burrow or will he decide to take another long nap until winter is over?
