As everyone hopes that their groundhog of choice ushers in an early spring, one part of New Jersey reported a rather bleak reason as to why they won’t be able to participate in the tradition.
Their beloved chunk of a weather-predictor, Milltown Mel, died.
I don’t want to take that as a sign of the kind of weather they can expect this year, but that is a pretty somber note to kick off Groundhog’s Day.
Mel’s Facebook page broke the news on January 30th, letting everyone know that Mel had, “crossed over the rainbow bridge.”
Mel actually lived a longer life than expected
While the timing is definitely unfortunate, it turns out Mel lived a long, full life. The average life span of a groundhog is three years and Mel, according to Central Jersey, the news source that broke the story, lived long enough to make the prediction six times!
The previous Mel passed away in August 2015, leading to this new Mel helming the forecast from 2016 to 2021.
The tradition, according to Fox 5, started back in 2009 for Milltown by Jerry Guthlein, the former owner of the Bronson and Guthlein Funeral Home, after he and his wife saw Pennysylvania’s legendary Punxsutawney Phil. Punxsutawney has been celebrating since the 1800s, their first reported Groundhog’s Day dating back to 1886.
The pandemic also puts the celebration on hold
The Milltown Wranglers (the group that puts together the celebration) tried to find a replacement, but apparently, most of Mel’s fellow groundhogs are currently hibernating. Knowing that, I can’t imagine suddenly being tasked with finding a particular kind of rodent in the span of a couple of days to fulfill an ongoing superstition about the weather.
Where does one go to find a groundhog on such short notice?
That wasn’t the only issue, though. There was also the matter of finding a venue to even have the annual celebration as the stage that was usually used wasn’t being rented out due to, you guessed it, COVID.
In the end, the decision was made to not hold the event at all and to circle back to it next year.
How does Groundhog’s Day work again?
I often mix up whether or not spring comes with the groundhog seeing its shadow or not. I also don’t pay much attention to the old tradition because I live in a place that typically has winter until it’s summer (at least, that’s what it feels like when you still get a blizzard in April every now and then).
So here’s a reminder of how the whole thing works.
If a groundhog sees its shadow on February 2nd, winter will go on for six more weeks. If it does not see its shadow on February 2nd, spring will come early. I honestly don’t remember the last time my state had an early spring so I pretty much assume that no matter what the groundhog tells me, we’re still gonna be shoveling our driveway.
Still, since it is 2-2-22, maybe I’ll catch a break and actually have some form of spring in March, though I dunno, seeing a town’s groundhog die doesn’t bode well.
Neither does the fact that Phil has let me down with a prediction of more winter.
(Image: Columbia Pictures)
