Phil's Prediction

Groundhog Day is today: February 2. The day each year when we wait for the famous groundhog Punxsutawney Phil to emerge and provide a forecast for the late winter and early spring ahead. If he sees his shadow, we will get six more weeks of winter. If he doesn’t see his shadow, we will get an early spring.

According to groundhog.org, Punxsutawney Phil has seen his shadow 100 out of 116 times. By 1900, the tradition officially began and we’ve been wondering since then if this lovely creature will see his shadow. Last year, Punxsutawney Phil did a horrible job “forecasting” our pattern when he did see his shadow, thus giving us “six more weeks of winter.” In reality, that never occurred as the contiguous United States had its fourth warmest winter on record. In fact, February 2012 provided the contiguous U.S. widespread warmer-than-average temperatures with twenty-seven states in the Northern Plains, Midwest, Southeast and Northeast having winter temperatures ranked among their ten warmest.

Punxsutawney Phil has had a 39% accuracy rate regarding his early spring/late winter forecasts. Phil has seen his shadow nearly 87% of the time, so the odds are for six more weeks of winter. However, cloudy and snowy conditions will occur on this day, which could increase the chances for Phil to not see his shadow and bring us an early spring.

Today, Phil told us there are another 6 weeks of winter before spring comes.

The Movie:

Groundhog Day is a 1993 American comedy film directed by Harold Ramis, starring Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell and Chris Elliott. It was written by Ramis and Danny Rubin, based on a story by Rubin.

Murray plays Phil Connors, an arrogant and egocentric Pittsburgh TV weatherman who, during a hated assignment covering the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney, finds himself in a time loop, repeating the same day again and again. After indulging in hedonism and numerous suicide attempts, he begins to re-examine his life and priorities.

In 2006, the film was added to the United States National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

It is a very nice movie to watch. Do we want to re-live the same day to fix regret moment or happily welcome another new day with so many unknowns? IF, you can choose, do you want another chance to re-live your childhood, or high school, or college, or your early work life, or marriage? The movie triggers much imagination for us. Just dream it :-)))

Plot:

Self-centered TV meteorologist Phil Connors (Murray), news producer Rita (MacDowell), and cameraman Larry (Elliott), of Pittsburgh television station WPBH-TV9, travel to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania on February 1st. Their assignment is to cover the annual Groundhog Day festivities on February 2nd. Phil, who doesn't like the assignment or the town, grudgingly gives his report on the festivities. He then gets his team on the road back to Pittsburgh, but a blizzard shuts down all travel. The team is forced to return to town and stay another night.

Phil wakes up to find that he is reliving February 2. The day plays out exactly as it did before, with no one else aware of the time loop, and only Phil aware of past events. At first he is confused, but, when the phenomenon continues on subsequent days, he decides to take advantage of the situation with no fear of long-term consequences: he learns secrets from the town's residents, seduces women, steals money, drives recklessly, and gets thrown in jail. However, his attempts to get closer to Rita repeatedly fail.

Eventually, Phil becomes despondent and tries more and more drastically to end the time loop; he gives ridiculous and offensive reports on the festival, abuses residents, eventually kidnaps Punxsutawney Phil and, after a police chase, drives off a high overlook into a quarry, evidently killing both himself and the groundhog. However, Phil wakes up and finds that nothing has changed; further attempts at suicide are just as fruitless, as he continues to find himself waking at six o'clock on the morning of February 2 with the clock radio on his nightstand playing "I Got You Babe" by Sonny & Cher.

When Phil explains the situation to Rita, she suggests that he should take advantage of it to improve himself. Inspired, Phil endeavors to try to learn more about Rita, building upon his knowledge of her and the town each day. He begins to use his by-now vast experience of the day to help as many people around town as possible. He uses the time to learn, among other things, to play piano, sculpt ice, and speak French.

Eventually, Phil is able to befriend almost everyone he meets during the day, using his experiences to save lives, help townspeople, and to get closer to Rita. He crafts a report on the Groundhog Day celebration so eloquent that all the other stations turn their microphones to him. After the town's evening dance on February 2nd, Rita "buys" Phil at at the event's auction. They retire together to Phil's room. He wakes the next morning and finds the time loop is broken; it is now February 3 and Rita is still with him. After going outside, Phil talks about living in Punxsutawney with Rita.