Winter will continue for six more weeks, the world's most famous Groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil said on Saturday at 122nd annual Groundhog Day observance.

Each year on February the 2nd, thousands of people descend on Punxsutawney, a town of 6,300 people about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, to celebrate what had essentially been a German superstition.

Boys and girls welcome to …

The Germans believed that if a hibernating animal cast a shadow on February 2, winter would last another six weeks.
If no shadow is seen, the legend said spring would come early.

As the crowd waited with anticipation on Saturday, a member of the Groundhog Inner Circle took Phil from his tree stump home.

As I look around me, a bright sky I see and a shadow beside me, six more weeks of winter it will be.

Even though the groundhog saw his shadow signifying another six weeks of winter, the crowd still roared with applause.

Some say the most famous weather-predicting groundhog has around forty percent accuracy record since 1887.

According to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, since 1886 Phil has seen his shadow 97 times, hasn't seen it 15 times and there are no records for nine years.

Though still a favorite gathering for university students, the celebration is more family friendly in recent years since alcohol is now banned from Gobbler's Knob.

In previous years, more than 20 television stations from the US and abroad have been on hand to broadcast the event live.