Punxsutawney Phil predicts an early spring at Groundhog Day festivities

PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (AP) — Punxsutawney Phil predicted an early spring Friday at Gobbler’s Knob in Pennsylvania, the scene of the country’s largest and best known Groundhog Day celebration in the United States. The annual event is a tongue-in-cheek ritual in which Phil’s handlers, members of a club with roots in the late 19th century, reveal whether the groundhog has seen his shadow.Just after sunrise Friday, the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club announced Phil did not see his shadow, which will usher in early springlike weather. The groundhog seeing his shadow presages six more weeks of winter, according to the group. Before the announcement, Punxsutawney Groundhog Club President Tom Dunkel told the crowd that a cane he held gave him the power to speak “Groundhog-ese” and that Phil would tell him which of two scrolls to use. At Dunkel’s direction, the crowd helped fire-up the groundhog with repeated chants of “Phil!” before a club member pulled the groundhog from a door in a stump on the stage and held it aloft. Dunkel and other club members leaned over the stump where the groundhog sat before announcing that they had a decision. Groundhog Club handler A.J. Dereume holds Punxsutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog,...