On the same day that something happened in a small town in Pennsylvania, Potomac Phil emerged from his mid-winter slumber for long enough to tell anxious D.C. residents what they didn’t want to hear — we’ve got six more weeks of winter coming.

No, Potomac Phil isn’t a real groundhog — he’s dead and stuffed — but he’s the best that one resident could get on such short notice. (And he has to be better than Staten Island Chuck.) As the Huffington Post reported earlier this week, Aaron DeNu tried to get himself a real live groundhog for what he hopes becomes an annual tradition to both mimic and rival the Punxsutawney-based weather-predicting festival. But being that groundhogs hibernate around these times and the best the National Zoo said it could lend him was a prairie dog, DeNu settled for a stuffed groundhog — but a groundhog no less.

The atmosphere in Dupont Circle this morning was festive, as residents and elected officials gathered to listen to polka music and gawk at Potomac Phil has he quietly surveyed the scene. At 8:30 a.m., a group approached Phil, listened closely to what he may have seen and announced that Potomac Phil and Punxsutawney Phil are of one mind this year — winter shall go on.

That’s not really a bad thing, though, said Councilmember Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), who was on hand to participate in the festivities and present a ceremonial resolution from the D.C. Council. After all, we’ve had a pretty balmy winter so far, and a few more weeks of days hovering in the 50s and 60s is bearable enough.

This year we got a stuffed groundhog, so maybe next year we can get Luke Murray to come down for the celebration. He’s a basketball coach in Towson, and yes, his father is Bill, who starred in the memorable Groundhog Day.