Neither snow, nor rain, nor gloom of night will stay the groundhog from his appointed weather prediction.

Whether the ice storm that’s predicted for Wednesday will put a kink in Yahdee the groundhog's tail is another matter, and whether South Whitehall's Grundsau Lodge No. 16’s Groundhog Day event will go on as planned will be officially decided Tuesday night.

“It has to be really bad for us to cancel it, because we don't have another date to do it,” says David Adam, Haaptmann of the lodge, an organization that celebrates and preserves Pennsylvania German language and customs.

Weather permitting, Yahdee will arrive by sled at 7 a.m. Wednesday at Covered Bridge Park, near Wehr's Bridge, South Whitehall Township. The groundhog’s weather prognostication will be based on weather conditions at the time. If it’s sunny and he sees his shadow, bet on six more weeks of harsh winter. If weather is cloudy, his shadow won’t scare him back into his burrow, and spring should be just around the corner.

The big Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney in western Pennsylvania may have a live groundhog (Yahdee has seen the inside of a taxidermist’s shop), but the South Whitehall event promises to be more authentic, with Pennsylvania German spoken there. These immigrants brought Groundhog Day traditions with them centuries ago.