This is pitiful.

A thousand people freezing their butts off waiting to worship a rat.

What a hype.

Groundhog Day used to mean something in this town.

They used to pull the hog out, and they used to eat it.

You're hypocrites, all of you!

... Once a year, the eyes of the nation turn here, to this tiny hamlet in Pennsylvania, to watch a master at work.

The master?

Punxsutawney Phil, the world's most famous weatherman, the groundhog, who, as legend has it, can predict the coming of an early spring.

And here's the big moment we've all been waiting for.

Let's just see what Mr. Groundhog has to say.

Hey! Over here, you little weasel!

Great shot, huh, folks?

Well, that was certainly worth the trip.

Now we'll be hearing from Mr. Buster Greene, President of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, the so-called Seer of Seers who will interpret for us.

Well, that's it.

Sorry you couldn't be here in person to share the electric moment.

This is one event where televison really fails to capture the excitement of thousands of people gathered to watch a large squirrel predict the weather, and I for one am deeply grateful to have been a part of it.

Reporting for Channel 9, this is Phil Connors.

Well, it's Groundhog Day — again — and you know what that means.

Everybody's here on Gobbler's Knob waiting in the cold for the appearance of the most famous groundhog in the world, Punxsutawney Phil, who's going to tell us just how much more of this we can expect.