The quaint old custom of looking to an oversized rodent every February 2 for a generalized weather forecast for the following immediate future is warmly amusing to some, irksome to others.

Groundhog Day is a popular North American tradition observed in the United States and Canada. Its origins are traced to the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a groundhog emerges from its burrow on the given day and sees its shadow due to clear weather, it will go back into to its den and winter weather will continue for six more weeks. If it fails to see its shadow because of cloudiness, then spring will invariably arrive early.

Of course, studies have found no consistent association between a groundhog seeing its shadow and the subsequent arrival time of spring-like weather. Still, many are so enamored of the legend that the annual ritual is played out with glee throughout many communities across the land.

Most notable among these celebrations is the famous Groundhog Day ceremony held at Punxsutawney in western Pennsylvania, centering on a semi-mythical groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil. News outlets nationwide file their annual tongue-in-cheek reports of the event, as notably depicted in the popular film Groundhog Day.

One wonders how such an event held in Somerville might play out. Do we even have groundhogs native to our environs? Or would we gather around a trash barrel, awaiting a sign from some oracular rat as it rears its head upward?

Whatever prediction comes forth, may the weeks ahead be amenable to all.