NEW YORK, February 2. /TASS/. Punxsutawney Phil, the famous groundhog from Pennsylvania, has predicted a long winter.
The annual event was broadcast live by Fox News. Early in the morning, the groundhog was taken out of his burrow at Gobbler’s Knob. According to tradition, if the groundhog sees his shadow and retreats back into the burrow, winter will last for another six weeks. If the weather is cloudy and Phil does not see his shadow, that means an early spring is coming. "It is my job this February 2 to look to the skies and report back to you, that there is a shadow here on my ground, six more weeks of winter abound!" Vice President of the Groundhog Club Dan McGinley announced the prediction on Phil’s behalf. Tens of thousands of spectators gathered for the ceremony.
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. But there aren’t any 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."
Phil gained widespread fame after the Columbia Pictures film studio released the 1993 movie Groundhog Day.