Hang onto your warm furry hats.

Punxsutawney Phil, the world’s most celebrated groundhog, gazed at the ground and beheld his shadow Friday morning. This means six more weeks of winter if you trust the weather forecasting skills of this oversized rodent.

Groundhog Club co-handler Al Dereume holds weather prognosticator Punxsutawney Phil Friday. Associated Press/Gene J. Puskar

Had the marmot not spotted his shadow, it would have signaled spring is around the corner, folklore assures.

The groundhog crawled out of his hole to issue his prediction just before 7:25 a.m. as the sun rose at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. How he managed to see his shadow with clouds blocking the sun is a bit of a mystery. Thousands witnessed the spectacle, unfazed by the biting wind, blowing snow and bone-chilling temperatures in the teens.

Since his first prediction in 1887, Phil has spotted his shadow 104 times, counting this year, while it has eluded him on just 18 occasions.

The groundhog’s prognostication is supported by forecasters endowed with somewhat larger brains; that is, actual meteorologists. The prediction from AccuWeather, the private forecasting company based in State College, Pennsylvania, is also calling for winter to persist another six weeks.

“Boston to New York City and Philadelphia may see snow a few more times before the end of the season,” says AccuWeather long-range forecaster Paul Pastelok.

The National Weather Service favors colder-than-normal weather in February in the northern and northeastern United States.

Last year, Phil predicted six more weeks of winter and spring arrived as early as it has in memory. It turned into the second-warmest February and ninth-warmest March on record.

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