PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. -- The world famous groundhog Punxsutawney Phil emerged from his oak stump and saw his shadow Thursday morning, which means he's predicting six more weeks of winter.
A fitting prediction, with a Blizzard Warning up for a large part of Colorado from just east and south of metro Denver for a major winter storm that's due to arrive later Thursday.
Thousands gathered outside the groundhog's home on Gobbler's Knob, a tiny hill in the town for which he's named about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
Temperatures were near freezing when he came out at sunrise — unseasonably warm — and are forecast to climb into the mid-40s in a winter that's brought little snow and only a few really cold days to the eastern U.S.
Thursday's ceremony is largely that: Phil's prediction is determined ahead of time by the Inner Circle, a group which dons top hats and tuxedos and decides in advance what the groundhog will predict.
