6 More Weeks of Winter!

http://www.itv.com/News/Articles/US-celebrates-Groundhog-Day-441714330.html

Published: Tuesday, 3 February 2009, 7:18AM

Winter is set to continue for six more weeks in the US, according to the country's most famous forecaster - Punxsutawney Phil.

The world's most famous groundhog saw his shadow at the 123rd annual Groundhog Day observance in Punxsutawney, about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

According to legend, this meant that the already long winter would continue for six more weeks.

Punxsutawney Phil's forecast was announced in front of thousands of revelers gathered on Gobbler's Knob, a tiny hill in Punxsutawney, a borough of about 6,100 residents.

A member of the Groundhog Inner Circle took Phil from his tree stump home and, as the crowd held its breath, an announcer said: "As I look around me, a bright sky I see and a shadow beside me, six more weeks of winter it will be."

Though the groundhog saw his shadow signifying another chilly six weeks, the crowd still roared with applause.

German settler tradition holds that if a hibernating animal casts a shadow on February 2 - the Christian holiday of Candlemas - winter would last another six weeks.

If no shadow was seen, legend said spring would come early.

Since 1887, the grundhog has seen his shadow 97 times, hasn't seen it 15 times and there are no records for nine years, according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club.

Interest in the Groundhog Day festivities got a huge boost after the release of the 1993 film in which Bill Murray plays a television reporter covering the event.