Punxsutawney Phil's 2023 Groundhog Day Forecast Is In & Here's When Spring Will Arrive
Are we really still doing this?
Punxsutawney Phil’s handlers make their announcement in this image from 2021.
You could argue that weather forecasters are right about 50% of the time, so why shouldn't we put the same stock in a groundhog's ability to predict the seasons?
Hundreds gathered in a handful of small towns scattered across North America on Thursday to find out if their local groundhog would notice its shadow, as part of the long-running and not-quite-scientific spring tradition.
The oh-so-scientific went off without a hitch on Groundhog Day 2023, which is fortunate because there've been some nasty surprises in the past.
No groundhog is more famous than Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog who lives at Gobbler's Knob (real place) in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.
Other parts of the U.S. and Canada have their own groundhog traditions such as Wiarton Willie, but Phil's the only one to ever co-star in a movie with Bill Murray.
Here's what Phil predicts for spring 2023.
How does Groundhog Day work?
Legend goes that if the groundhog comes out of his hole on February 2 and sees its shadow, we're in for six more weeks of winter.
If it doesn't you can expect an early spring.
Did the groundhog see his shadow in 2023?
Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow on Thursday morning.
That means we can expect six more weeks of winter and spring will arrive in mid-March.
How accurate is Groundhog Day?
This may come as a surprise, but groundhogs aren't particularly good at seasonal forecasts.
According to the U.S. National Centers for Environmental Information, Punxsutawney Phil's predictions have been wrong 60% of the time over the last 10 years.
But if you put it another way, 40% of the time it works every time.
NOAA also points out that Phil's predictions are pretty predictable. He (or at least, his predecessors) have been predicting the weather since 1887, and the groundhog has seen his shadow 107 times over that span, compared to just 20 times when he hasn't.
In other words, he's not exactly flipping coins with his predictions.
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.