Come Monday morning, and the forecaster groundhog – perhaps the most famous rodent on earth – will tell Americans what the weather will look like for the next six weeks.
Well, the animal doesn't gaze at the ball or read a card. All he does is appear sneakily from his burrow and give an indication of the upcoming weather simply based on whether or not he sees his own shadows.
The bizarre prognosticating rodent, famously known as Punxsutawney Phil, will pop up from his burrow early morning on 2 February and show its supernatural ability of letting you know the answer to what every American is asking at this very moment: Will the cold drag on for the next six weeks, or is the United States in for an encouraging early spring?
The extremely curious yet famous folklore associated with this day, has it that if the groundhog sees his shadows and returns to his burrow, he has predicted an extended period of harsh winter until March. However, if the animal does not see his shadow and does not return to his hole, Americans will breathe in an air of a beautiful early spring.
The day this quirky rodent, and many others of his kind elsewhere in the country, make the famous prognostication (2 February) is known as the 'Groundhog Day' in the United States and Canada. When Phil is not tasked with predicting the weather for the rest of the year, he is widely understood to live in the town library with his 'wife' named 'Phyllis'.
Weather forecasters have predicted an extremely cold day for Monday with clouds seen hovering above the sky of Pennsylvania through the day, with a good possibility of snow. However, the famous rodent is often known to be fickle and it can't be said with certainty what he will ultimately predict.
For instance, he saw his shadows last year and gave America another six weeks of cold, on a day the weather was expected to be cloudy – and not the kind which would make him see his shadows.
Although there is contention and debate on whether Phil is correct on predicting the weather, the Groundhog Day organisers have always maintained that the rodent is accurate at his prognostication over 75-90% of the time.
Whatever said and done, all eyes will be on Phil for now as America awaits the moment when the smug animal appears from his hole and show people his talents at around 7am local time on Monday.
