Groundhog Club handler A.J. Dereume holds Punxsutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog, Wednesday during the 136th celebration of Groundhog Day on Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa.
Barry Reeger/AP
On the day when America puts its faith in the paws of furry forecasters, two of the country's most prominent groundhogs offered dueling predictions for what the weather has in store.
In Pennsylvania, Punxsutawney Phil ascended from a tree stump and placed his bet on six more weeks of winter. In New York, Charles G. Hogg — aka Staten Island Chuck — emerged from his burrow to see his shadow and an early spring.
Both have long histories and mixed track records when it comes to predicting the weather. While Punxsutawney Phil's handlers — a group of top hat-clad gentlemen known as the Inner Circle — say he's always right (and that he is the "only true weather forecasting groundhog"), data from the Stormfax Almanac puts that number closer to 39%. The Staten Island Zoo says its star groundhog has an 85% accuracy rate.
Each groundhog made the same prediction as they did last year, when the U.S. experienced an unusually frigid February and a warmer-than-average March, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. So, glass half full, they were both kind of right.
Either way, sunshine and flowers aren't exactly imminent this year: The Groundhog Day ceremonies happen to be sandwiched between two major winter storms in a single week. A major blizzard brought up to 2 feet of snow to some places in the Northeast over the weekend, while states from Texas to Maine are bracing for another storm in the days ahead.
(NPR)
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