Weathertop view, home

When Punxsatawney Phil, the most famous groundhog in the universe, awoke this morning on his day—well, was roused out of torpor by his handlers, for no sane northeastern Marmota monax is awake at this time of year—he was charged with taking the long view. The "Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of Prognosticators" was asked to deliver his forecast for the coming six weeks: would we have early spring weather, or would the winter return? According to news reports, Phil poked around on a cloudy morning and gave the word to the top-hatted members of the Inner Circle, which was translated from the groundhog-ese thusly, "There is no shadow to be cast! An early spring is my forecast!" So, if the groundhog is even close to right—and there was a convergence of opinion from other M. monax forecasters around North America (perhaps that's why a group of groundhogs is said to be called a repetition)—then this snowless view from the top of the ridge will soon be going from brown to green... without an interlude of deep, pure white.