It’s Groundhog Day… again. And this year Punxsutawney Phil declared: “Spring will be early, it’s a certainty.”
At Sunrise on Sunday, members of the famous rodent’s top hat-wearing inner circle revealed his 134th “prognostication,” according to the Pennsylvania Tourism Office.
Awoken by a large crowd’s chants of “Phil!” the groundhog was hoisted in the air for the assembly to hail before making his decision.
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He then grasped the glove of a handler as a member of his inner circle announced that spring would come early this year.
Legend has it that if the creature casts a shadow on Feb. 2, winter will continue for six more weeks. If not, spring comes early.
In reality, Phil’s prediction is decided ahead of time by the group on Gobbler’s Knob, a tiny hill just outside Punxsutawney, around 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
From 2015 through 2019, he has predicted six more weeks of winter thrice and an early spring twice.
But according to records dating back to 1887, the Pennsylvanian prognosticator has predicted more winter more than 100 times, making this year’s forecast a rare one overall.
Elsewhere, in New York City, Staten Island Chuck also predicted an early spring. The critter who resides at Staten Island Zoo groundhog also did not see his shadow.
The rodent has “a prediction success rate of nearly 80 percent,” the zoo claims on its website.