Yesterday, the world's most famous weather prognosticating groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, saw his shadow, meaning he's hunkering down for six more weeks of winter.
But what about the rest of the meteorologically inclined groundhogs scattered across America? IPR's Austin Rowlader found that of the 74 groundhogs that made a prediction, 39 (52.7%) of them say we're in for six more weeks of winter.
What does that mean? Not much. According to the National Weather Service, Punxsutawney Phil is right only 35% of the time. Meaning he's tied for the worst track record of any weather prediction groundhog in the US.
Who's the other equally unreliable groundhog? Woody the Woodchuck — Michigan's official weather groundhog. Both are telling us we're in for six more weeks of winter.
But that doesn't mean all groundhogs are inept weather prognosticators. Some get pretty lucky. According to the National Weather Service, a groundhog in New York named Staten Island Chuck has an 85% accuracy rating. He also saw his shadow this Groundhog Day.
What does the National Weather Service think about the coming of spring?
Well, simplistic pronunciations of distant weather forecasts are not really their thing. But they do publish seasonal outlook maps. If you'd like to dive deeper into their long-term forecast data, you can visit their official outlooks page.
But if you'd rather just see what the groundhogs think (and read more of their hilarious names) click here.
