Schnogadahl Sammi, a mounted groundhog, will remain inside her warm, cozy closet in Kunkletown this Groundhog Day.

“We have canceled everything until this pandemic is over,” said Bruce George, secretary of Groundhog Lodge No. 6 of Monroe County.

The lodge, now in its 71st year, has not met since October and canceled its 2020 Christmas party, along with its banquet in late February and its annual Groundhog Day events, George said.

All eyes will not be on Sammi, the lodge’s mascot, this Tuesday. She has been their weather predictor for years. She was preserved by a local taxidermist and lives comfortably in a closet inside George’s office.

Under normal circumstances, lodge leadership and an audience would gather near the field behind Cherry’s Sunset Diner in Kresgeville.

At sunrise, lodge leaders would give some remarks and lead a prayer before Sammi’s prognostication. After photos with the beloved mascot, many from the crowd would go inside the diner for breakfast, coffee and conversation.

The Monroe County lodge was not alone in canceling its events. Lodges in Carbon and Lehigh counties have also canceled their Groundhog Day festivities.

“It’s a shame to cancel these events. But under the circumstances, we had no choice,” said George. “I hope it’s back to normal next year.”

Despite the canceled event, lodge members have been keeping an eye on Tuesday’s forecast.

“There’s a snowstorm coming on Tuesday. It is not spring yet,” said Neal Murphy, the lodge’s weather forecaster. “Sammi would not see her shadow if it is snowing.”

According to a German legend that says if a furry rodent casts a shadow on Feb. 2, winter continues. If it does not see its shadow, spring comes early.

As of Friday, some local weather forecasters are saying there could be some snowfall beginning Sunday and continuing through Tuesday. That does not exactly feel like an early spring to Murphy.

“I have always said, ‘We cannot trust a weatherman, so why do we trust a rodent,’?” he said with a chuckle.

Murphy was happy to give his prediction a few days early and understands all the precautions and event cancellations. He was recently hospitalized for a few days.

“I had COVID for the second time, blood poisoning and fluid on my lungs,” he said.

He has returned home and is taking things slowly.

When the lodge can resume meeting, its leaders plan to have some sort of memorial for Wayne Smith and Earl Meckes - two long-standing lodge leaders who passed away recently.

Meckes was their president, and each year at the Groundhog Day ceremony, he read a prayer in English and Pennsylvania Dutch.

Smith was their treasurer and had been part of the lodge longer than most of its members.