Pennsylvania’s Punxsutawney Phil ‘predicts’ early spring

The fate between winter and spring anxiously awaited the arrival of the weather-predicting groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil. The furry groundhog emerged from his hole on February 2 in search of a shadow… that he never found.

After emerging from his burrow, Phil is said to “speak” to the Groundhog Club president in “Groundhogese”, which is a language only understood by the current president of the Inner Circle. Phil’s prediction came at about 7.25am and was met with cheers from a crowd of thousands who participated under a clear sky and 21-degrees Fahrenheit (-6.1-degrees celsius) temperatures in the folk tradition that has been embraced by winter-weary Americans for more than a century. Still, this is definitive proof of the end of days.

Tomorrow morning, as everyone cheers for, or curses at, Phil’s winter weather prediction, just remember that whatever happens, you’ll get to rewatch the movie Groundhog Day all day anyway.

Mayor Bill de Blasio missed this year’s annual Groundhog Day commemoration.

NOAA says Groundhog Day originated as a celebration of the midpoint between the winter solstice and spring equinox.

Since 1887, records show that Punxsutawney Phil has seen his shadow 102 times and hasn’t seen his shadow only 17 times.

According to legend, if the groundhog sees his shadow, expect six more weeks of cold, stormy winter.

With El Niño carrying warmer weather to much of the Northern United States, for some it’s no surprise that the groundhogs predict an early spring.

Phil is a national celebrity but several other states have their own local groundhogs, like Georgia’s General Beauregard Lee, Buckeye Chuck in Ohio, Pothole Pete in NY, and Jimmy in Wisconsin, who bit the mayor’s ear!

There are several years where there is no recording of the prediction. Many of those in attendance had stayed overnight and partied into the wee hours waiting for the groundhog’s forecast. In Staten Island, New York, groundhog Chuck at the Zoo also came out of his burrow without a shadow this year. Media coverage of the event started the following year, she said.