PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (AP) — Punxsutawney Phil’s offspring now have names that just might help the famed weather-forecasting groundhog to predict when spring will begin.
Phil’s human handlers chose Mother’s Day to announce that the two kits born this spring to Phil and his partner, Phyllis, are named Sunny and Shadow. Sunny is a female, Shadow a male.
Each spring, Phil makes a prediction about the length of the remaining winter. According to tradition, if he sees his shadow there will be six more weeks of cold. This year, Phil did not see his shadow and therefore predicted an early spring.
“These kits of his are not replacements, they’re not the heir apparent,” Dan McGinley, vice president of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club Inner Circle, said in a phone interview Monday. “Sunny and Shadow will not be part of the ceremony — it’s still Phil’s job. There’s still only one Punxsutawney Phil.”
