Don’t worry if the famous Punxsatawney Phil and others predicted 6 more weeks of Winter. You can pick from one of many other furry, feathery or scaly prognosticators across the U.S. and Canada that predicted an early Spring! 

Originally, Groundhog Day began as a farming related tradition in Germany and was brought to the U.S. by immigrants making Pennsylvania their new home. Hedgehogs were originally used in Germany but are not native to America. As a result, the more commonly found Groundhog took center stage. 

Over time, Punxsutawney Phil has become synonymous with Groundhog Day after being immortalized in the Bill Murray film Groundhog Day. Phil’s handlers, known as the Inner Circle, host a big unveil production annually. They claim that Phil is the same Groundhog making predictions despite having only a 2-3 year life expectancy in the wild or 6-14 in captivity. Phil’s predictive ability is also controversial. His accuracy rate is generously estimated at 40%. His handlers claim Phil is 100% accurate. They believe that any error in predicting the weather is because the handler did not understand the Groundhogease Phil was clearly communicating with. 

For New Yorkers we have consensus for an early Spring based on predictions from Staten Island Chuck and Cluxatawney Henrietta! Chuck became Internet famous after being dropped by then Mayor Bill de Blasio. He previously bit Mayor Michael Bloomberg.