NEW YORK, February 2. /TASS/. Punxsutawney Phil, the infamous groundhog from Pennsylvania, has predicted an early spring this year, the Fox News TV channel reported.

This morning, Phil, who weighs a whopping five pounds, was extracted from his burrow on Gobbler Knob Hill. According to popular belief, if the groundhog gets scared of his shadow and hides in his burrow, winter will last another month and a half. If the weather is cloudy and Phil does not see his shadow, then spring will come early.

A Groundhog Club spokesman announced the prediction. "We're in for an early spring," he read out the forecast on Phil's behalf in front of several tens of thousands of people who had gathered for the ceremony.

This is Punxsutawney Phil's 138th prediction, and he has predicted the onset of early spring only 20 times. According to Groundhog Club participants, every summer Phil drinks a magic elixir that extends his life for seven more years. Fox News notes that Phil's predictions come true only 39% of the time.

The tradition of determining the arrival of spring based on the rodent’s behavior was brought to North America by immigrants from Germany. A badger played the role of weather sage in Germany in the 19th century. There are no badgers in Pennsylvania, so the settlers entrusted this task to the trusty groundhog, whose full title is "Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators, and Weather-Prophet Extraordinary.".