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CNN Live Saturday

Punxsutawney Phil Predicts Six More Weeks of Winter

Aired February 02, 2002 - 12:26   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The South should be in for an early spring. That's the forecast this Groundhog Day from General Beauregard Lee. This morning, he left his miniature mansion right outside of Atlanta here, but the General did not see his shadow. Although General Lee is predicting an early spring, that other prognosticating groundhog saw things a little differently.

Our Elaine Quijano has the prediction from Punxsutawney in Pennsylvania.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, Happy Groundhog Day from Gobbler's Knob in western Pennsylvania, where today, a record crowd turned out, almost 40,000 people turned out to hear Punxsutawney Phil predict that we are going to be in for a long winter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

QUIJANO (voice over): In front of thousands of faithful followers, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, signaling six more weeks of winter. It's a tradition more than a century old, one Punxsutawney prepares for every year, with a host of rodent-centered rituals.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, the 2002 Groundhog King and Queen.

QUIJANO: At Punxsutawney High School, the seniors select their royal couple to represent them at Gobbler's Knob.

But it's not just the locals who go groundhog wild. Phil's fans travel from near and far for a glimpse of the so-called seer of seers, fans like South Carolinians Richard and Joanne Hudson, who came face- to-face with Phil while driving through Pennsylvania.

JOANNE HUDSON: I said to my husband, Oh my gosh, there's Punxsutawney! And he said, "Uh-huh." I said, Oh let's stop," you know, so we did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kim, will you have Richard to continue to be your wedded husband?

QUIJANO: Besides the adventuresome, Groundhog Day also attracts lovers. At Phil's Wedding Chapel, some choose to say "I do" this time on 02/02/02. We visited one West Virginia couple, Richard and Kim Carter, celebrating 25 years of marriage. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) again.

QUIJANO: So what exactly is Phil's allure? Some of it is leftover publicity from the 1993 movie "Groundhog Day" shown every year at the Punxsutawney Community Center. But mostly, it's an excuse to insert a little brightness into the bleakness of winter.

BILL COOPER, GROUNDHOG CLUB INNER CIRCLE: I think Groundhog Day is fun for no good reason. I think that's it. It's just fun for no good reason.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

QUIJANO: And a live look now here at Gobbler's Knob. You see a kid looking in to see if Phil is there. Phil is actually out and about in town in Punxsutawney about a mile away greeting his visitors, his faithful followers who have come out to see him.

And by the way, I should mention to you, he stays normally in town in Punxsutawney at the Groundhog Zoo there. But from what I understand, unlike General Beauregard Lee, it's not a mansion. It's just kind of a hole that they have kind of carved out for him. So I don't want to start any conflicts here, but that's a very interesting point.

In any case, if you are wondering about Phil's accuracy, the locals tell me that generally speaking, he is correct about 39 percent of the time, and they say, this is what they have told me that it's pretty safe to take Phil's prediction and assume that the opposite is actually going to happen, if you want to be correct about it. We'll see.

From Gobbler's Knob in Pennsylvania, I am Elaine Quijano -- Fredricka, back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks a lot, Elaine.

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