Groundhog Day 2016: Punxsutawney Phil Doesn’t See His Shadow

Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development photo.

It is Groundhog Day, and Punxsutawney Phil predicts that Spring will come early.

The official groundhog of Groundhogs da, Phil, has come out from his burrow on Gobbler’s Kob, Punxsutawney, Pa. on Feb. 2 for the past 130 years; and is said to predict the weather for the rest of winter.

Legend says that if Phil sees his shadow, an additional six more weeks of winter weather can be expected. If he doesn’t see his shadow, it is said that an early spring is on the horizon.

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. The president will then translate Phil’s proclamation for the rest of the world.

The official 2016 Proclamation, per the Groundhog Club:

Hear Ye, Hear Ye, Hear Ye

Now, this Second Day of February, Two Thousand and Sixteen, the One Hundred and Thirtieth Annual Trek of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club….

Punxsutawney Phil, the Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of All Prognosticators, was awakened from his borrow to the cheers of his thousands of faithful followers….

In Groundhogese, he directed the President and the Inner Circle to the precise prediction Scroll, which translated, reads:

The inner circle goes to great ends

To keep me abreast of latest trends
Down in my burrow I never get bored

Riding on my hover board
And I sure have fun flying my drone

But weather forecasting is my comfort zone
Is this current warm weather more than a trend?

Per chance this winter has come to an end?
There is no shadow to be cast,

An early Spring is my forecast!

The celebration of Groundhog day is said to have begun with Pennsylvania’s earliest settlers, who traveled to America with the legend of Candlemas Day, which follows a similar legend where, according to the Groundhog Club, “For as the sun shines on Candlemas Day, so far will the snow swirl in May…”

Groundhog Day acclaimed popularity with the 1993 movie “Groundhog Day,” which follows a Pittsburgh TV weatherman who finds himself in a time loop, repeating the same day over and over again, as he covers an assignment at the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney.