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The 138th year of Groundhog Day arrived, but what did it bring?

Phil the Groundhog did not see his shadow, he predicts and early spring.

WASHINGTON — UPDATE:

Punxsutawney Phil has seen his shadow, thus predicting six more weeks of winter. 

ORIGINAL STORY:

Every Feb. 2, a group of bearded men reach inside a cage and pull out a groundhog.

The two most famous are "Punxsutawney Phil" in Pennsylvania and "Beauregard Lee" in Georgia. The lore is that if he sees his shadow he gets scared and runs back into his lair preparing for six more weeks of winter. 

If he doesn’t see his shadow, then he remains out and declares an early end to winter. 

This February marks the 138th year (the 128th recorded year) of this rather unique tradition. And Phil has quite the track record of seeing his shadow more often than not. 

The groundhog has declared spring only 21 times. He has not seen his shadow only 14% of the time.

Credit: AP
Groundhog Club inner circle member Dan McGinley, left, visits with Punxsutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog, during the 131st celebration of Groundhog Day on Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa. Thursday, Feb. 2, 2017. Phil's handlers said that the groundhog has forecast six more weeks of winter weather. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

We've looked back at the data and Phil is only "accurate" about 40% of the time -- certainly nowhere near as accurate as D.C.'s most accurate, the WUSA 9 Weather Team.

RELATED: DC Winter Weather Forecast: Here's how much snow to expect

RELATED: February outlook: Warmer than average with a few cold spells

Did You Know? Some Groundhog Day History

The Romans celebrated a similar day also in early February. There are a lot of pagan ties to this day and tradition. February’s Latin derivatives imply February to be a month for purification. 

In England this day was called "Candlemas Day" and was celebrated by a parade of candles. This day marked the midpoint between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. Much like Phil’s idea of forecasting if the weather were nice on that day then more winter was ahead but if the weather were bad then here comes spring. 

Later the tradition in England involved hedgehogs. Hedgehogs were chosen because they are insectivores. If the insects were out then the hedgehogs were out and winter was over. Since we have no hedgehogs we use groundhogs (ground squirrels). 

So let’s get this straight...we use the wrong animal for the wrong thing for a pagan holiday. In fact, the groundhog hibernates and would not be out and about anyway. 

Sometimes Phil bites his handler. This last happened in 2015. Can you blame him?

RELATED: Police want to take Punxsutawney Phil into custody

RELATED: Groundhog Day 2018: Punxsutawney Phil predicts more winter

RELATED: Groundhog Day is Friday. Will Phil see his shadow?

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