Groundhog Day

Punxsutawney Phil predicts an early spring

PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa.>> Punxsutawney Phil predicted an early spring on an overcast Friday morning at Gobbler’s Knob in Pennsylvania, the scene of the largest and best-known Groundhog Day celebration in the United States.

The annual event is a tongue-in-cheek ritual in which Phil’s handlers, members of a club with roots in the late 19th century, reveal whether the groundhog has seen his shadow.

Just after sunrise Friday, the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club announced Phil did not see his shadow, which will usher in early springlike weather. The groundhog seeing his shadow presages six more weeks of winter, according to the group.

Before the announcement, President Tom Dunkel, in the traditional top hat and tuxedo worn by the club’s inner circle, explained that his cane, handed down from previous presidents, including his father, gave him the power to speak “Groundhog-ese” and that Phil would tell him which of two scrolls to use. At Dunkel’s direction, the crowd helped fire-up the groundhog with repeated chants of “Phil!” before a club member pulled the groundhog from a door in a stump on the stage and held it aloft.

Dunkel and other club members leaned over the stump where the groundhog sat before Dunkel pointed to one of two scrolls with the cane and announced that they had a decision.

Vice President Dan McGinley read the decision from the chosen scroll and announced, “Glad tidings on this Groundhog Day, an early spring is on the way!”

Octoraro Orphie in Quarryville, Pa., a rival of the Punxsutawney groundhog for more than a century, says the cold will be around for a while. But groundhogs in Staten Island, N.Y.; Nova Scotia; Quebec; Connecticut; Georgia; Illinois; and Ohio were all on Phil’s side — an early spring. In Boulder, Flatiron Freddy — a stuffed yellow-bellied marmot clad in a top hat — did not see any shadow, signaling an early spring. After Freddy’s prediction, guests lined up to take pictures and selfies with the marmot against the backdrop of the Flatirons.

— The Associated Press