Candlemas Day was the midpoint between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. If the badger saw its shadow, it meant a "second winter" was coming. When the practice came to the US in 1887 ...

If it was sunny, the badger would cast a shadow that meant six more weeks of winter. After many Germans immigrated to Pennsylvania, a groundhog, native to North America, replaced the badger.

"If you see your shadow here today," sang the band "Lights ... predict the weather is rooted in European lore, where “...a badger or sacred bear...” prognosticates the weather.