Groundhog predicts early spring, but don't get too excited

The groundhog has seen his shadow 103 times, making predictions of long winters more common. The groundhog did not see his shadow this morning in Pennsylvania. The groundhog made his official prediction this morning at 7:25. His New York counterpart, Staten Island Chuck, also predicted an early spring.

The congressman then pivoted to his first month in Washington during the shutdown: "I had to spend a lot of time in D.C. dealing with a lot of trivial, absurd, childish human beings, so it's great to be up here to figure out whether a furry animal is going to bring us an early spring".

For a groundhog, Phil is surprisingly accurate.

This time of year, "I don't think there's ever been a case where we've seen [such a big] shift in temperatures", Jeff Masters, meteorology director of the Weather Underground, recently told USA Today.

"There is no predictive skill for the groundhog during the most recent years of the analysis", the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information states on its website. As Data from the Stormfax Almanac shows, Phil's predictions have been right a whopping 39 percent of the time.

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While the exact calculations are disputed, IFC's Simon Gallagher estimates Bill Murray's character in the classic film "Groundhog Day" relived the day 12,403 days - that's 33 years and 358 days!

Groundhog Day has its roots in an early Christian celebration known as Candlemas Day, which marked the point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. "All hail groundhog supremacy", the Inner Circle president said, as Phil was presented to the crowd.

The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club hosts the main Groundhog Day event in the town.

When is Groundhog Day 2019?