Gaffney residents might be more convinced than ever that six more weeks of winter are upon them after a recent snowfall, but today is the day the world officially finds out from everyone's favorite woodchuck, Punxsutawney Phil.

That's right, Feb. 2 is Groundhog Day. And in Punxsutawney, Pa., at a hill called Gobbler's Knob, a large crowd gathers every year for the world's smallest weather forecaster to make his prediction.

In a tradition that dates back to the pagan holiday called Imbolc, the idea of a day in February determining the severity of winter is an ancient one.

According to Groundhog.org, the official home of Phil on the web, when German settlers came to Pennsylvania in the 1700s, they brought with them a tradition known as Candlemas Day. It came at the mid-point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. Superstition held that if the weather was fair, the second half of winter would be stormy and cold. For the early Christians in Europe, it was the custom on Candlemas Day for clergy to bless candles and distribute them to the people in the dark of winter. A lit candle was placed in each window of the home. If the sun came out Feb. 2, halfway between winter and spring, it meant six more weeks of wintry weather.

The animal part of the tradition came from the same idea.

If the sun made an appearance on Candlemas Day, an animal would cast a shadow, thus predicting six more weeks of winter. Germans watched a badger for the shadow. In Pennsylvania, the groundhog, upon waking from mid-winter hibernation, was selected as the replacement.

Pennsylvania's official celebration of Groundhog Day began Feb. 2, 1886 with a proclamation in local newspaper The Punxsutawney Spirit by the editor, Clymer Freas.

"Today is groundhog day and up to the time of going to press the beast has not seen its shadow," Freas wrote.

The groundhog was given the name 'Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages, Prognosticator of Prognosticators, and Weather Prophet Extraordinary' and his hometown thus called the "Weather Capital of the World."

So how did it go that first time out? Phil saw no shadow so there was an early spring. The first trip to Gobbler's Knob was the next year. Since then, Phil has seen his shadow 94 times, not seen it 14 times and nine years, mainly in the 1800s, there are no records.