Punxsutawney Phil Makes His Official Call

Sorry, but Groundhog Day prediction out of Pa. is 6 more weeks of winter
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 2, 2022 6:58 AM CST
Punxsutawney Phil Makes His Official Call
A handler holds Punxsutawney Phil, the weather-prognosticating groundhog, on Groundhog Day on Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa., on Wednesday.   (AP Photo/Barry Reeger, File)

If you were hoping for an early spring, better climb back into bed. Early Wednesday, Punxsutawney Phil made his annual Groundhog Day prediction on what the weather is looking like for the near future, and it appears we have six more weeks of winter ahead of us, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Locals gathered at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa., to hear Phil's prognostication, an event organized by the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club's Inner Circle. In Phil's 136th forecast, the groundhog saw his shadow, just like in 2021, which means spring is not afoot.

That doesn't mean Phil's look into the future is set in stone. USA Today notes that he's only been correct about 40% of the time over the past decade. Last year, he was half right: He saw his shadow, guaranteeing 42 more days of wintry misery, but while February's temps were indeed below average across the US mainland, March's were above average. "There is no predictive skill for the groundhog during the most recent years of the analysis," the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sniffed in a report last year. (More groundhog day stories.)

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