Early this morning, Punxsutawney Phil saw his own shadow on Gobbler's Knob in Pennsylvania. You know what that means, right? We're in for six more weeks of winter. Hurrah!
Revealing his forecast just before 7:30am, the furry rodent proclaimed: "A perfect clear shadow of me, six more weeks of winter it shall be."
For those of you not familiar with the interesting tradition, Groundhog Day's origin is a German legend. According to folklore, a casted shadow on February 2 indicates the continuation of winter while the absence of one marks the early arrival of spring. Spoiler alert: The prediction is actually made before the morning announcement by the Groundhog Club's Inner Circle—whose members are, of course, fluent in "groundhogese," the ancient animal language.
Skeptical about this whole thing and prefer to rely on good ol' science? Metereologists happen to agree with Phil and advise Americans in the Northeast to prepare for wintry conditions in the upcoming weeks. "There will be more rain than snow in the big East Coast cities," said Paul Pastelok, an AccuWeather meteorologist. "As far as a significant warmup goes across the Northeast, I think you have to hold off [until] late April or early May."
Moral of the story: Bundle up, it's not getting any warmer any time soon.