11 Photos From Groundhog Day 2024, Including Punxsutawney Phil, Who Predicted An Early Spring
Today is Feb. 2, which means it's Groundhog Day.
The holiday, in which a groundhog's behavior is used to forecast weather, is a major deal in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.
The event takes place at Gobbler's Knob, a hill near Punxsutawney.
And today, a major crowd waited to see if a local groundhog, known as Punxsutawney Phil, would see his shadow.
As the tradition goes, if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, then six more weeks of winter are to be expected. If he doesn't, then spring is projected to come early.
The Associated Press reports that Phil didn't see his shadow, which indicates the possibility of spring arriving soon.
According to NPR, the tradition dates back to 1887.
As for Phil's accuracy, the National Centers for Environmental Information reported last year that the groundhog predicted the weather correctly 30% of the time since 2013.
They also reported that Phil typically predicts longer winters, having seen his shadow 107 times since 1887.
Notably, Phil is not the only weather-forecasting groundhog.
There's also a groundhog at the Staten Island Zoo in New York City, aptly named Staten Island Chuck. The zoo announced on Feb. 2 that Chuck also predicted an early spring.
Staten Island Chuck and Punxsutawney Phil don't always agree every year, but this year they did. Here's hoping the synergy means an early spring is actually coming.
