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Punxsutawney Phil honored as final Meteorologist Hall of Fame member

Watch Punxsutawney Phil’s annual prediction live on February 2, at 7 a.m. here.

PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (WTAJ) — The town of Punxsutawney honored its last and furriest member of the Meteorologist Hall of Fame during an induction ceremony.

The event was held on Wednesday, Feb. 1, at the Punxsutawney Weather Discovery Center downtown. There, members of the discovery center’s board of directors inducted the world’s most famous forecaster Punxsutawney Phil.

Phil is the 19th — and the final — inductee into the Hall of Fame.

“It couldn’t really be any more poetic other than having Punxsutawney Phil be our last inductee,” Lisa Waksmunski, Executive Director of the Punxsutawney Weather Discovery Center said. “His forecast is known not only locally, not only in Pennsylvania, not only nationally but worldwide. We get visitors from all over the world who come for Punxsutawney Phil.”

The Hall of Fame began in 2007 when Dr. Joel Myers, a PSU graduate whose company later became known as “AccuWeather,” was inducted. It has since seen 17 other notable meteorologists inducted including WTAJ’s Joe Murgo who in 2001 became Pennsylvania’s first Certified Broadcast Meteorologist. The Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore is also a member of the elite meteorologist group.

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“These meteorologists have done things, been pioneers in many different aspects of weather forecasting,” Waksmunski said.

For more information, you can check out the Weather Discovery Center online by clicking here.