GOBBLER’S KNOB – For the past 139 years, Punxsutawney’s famous, weather-forecasting groundhog, Phil, has been fetched from his burrow mid-winter Feb. 2 by his Inner Circle.
As the legend goes, if Phil wakes from his winter sleep and sees his shadow, he warns of six more weeks of bad weather and scampers back into his burrow.
If Phil wakes and finds himself shadowless, he takes it as a sign of an early spring and stays above ground.
According to members of the Groundhog Club, Phil, after making the prediction, chatters to the club’s president in “Groundhogese.”
“Groundhogese” is a language, which only the current club president can understand, and his forecast is then translated for the entire world.
At sunrise this Groundhog Day, Phil emerged from his burrow surrounded by members of the Inner Circle and saw his shadow, signaling six more weeks of winter.