Had your winter Phil? Check Groundhog Day forecasts

It's Groundhog Day — the day millions of North Americans turn to weather prognosticating rodents in the hope they'll call for an early spring.

And Wiarton Willie, Canada's most celebrated of all its furry forecasters is predicting an early spring.

Folklore has it that if a groundhog sees its shadow on Groundhog Day it'll flee back to its burrow, heralding six more weeks of winter, and if it doesn't, it means spring's just around the corner. Willie did not see his shadow on this year's Feb. 2.

On the East Coast, Nova Scotia's Shubenacadie Sam was the first out of his burrow Saturday morning to make his prediction, and sadly for those hoping for an early spring, the pride of Shubenacadie did see his shadow.

Groundhog handler Ron Ploucha reacts after hearing the famed weather prognosticating groundhog Punxsutawney Phil's annual prediction in Punxsutawney, Pa. (Jason Cohn/Reuters)

So did Quebec's groundhog, Fred, who gave his forecast in front of a church in Val d'Espoir, a community in the Gaspesie region.

Still to come is Winnipeg Willow's forecast. She'll be visiting a Mountain Equipment Co-op store to make her prediction.

Stateside, Pennsylvania's Punxsutawney Phil is generally regarded as the groundhog of record and his prediction is for an early spring.

Phil's prediction is made during a ceremony overseen by a group called the Inner Circle. Members don top hats and tuxedos for the ceremony on Groundhog Day each year.

Phil is known as the "seer of seers" and "sage of sages." Organizers predicted about 20,000 people this weekend, a larger-than-normal crowd because Groundhog Day falls on a weekend this year.

Phil's got company in the U.S. forecasting department. There's also Staten Island Chuck in New York and General Beauregard Lee in Atlanta.

But Phil is the original — and the best — Punxsutawney partisans insist.

"We welcome them all. We like the competition," said Bill Deeley, president of the Inner Circle in Punxsutawney, this week.

The 1993 movie Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray brought even more notoriety to the Pennsylvania party. The record attendance was about 30,000 the year after the movie's release, said Katie Donald, executive director of the Groundhog Club. About 13,000 attend if Feb. 2 falls on a weekday.

With files from The Associated Press

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