STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The Staten Island Zoo’s most famous resident is more than 85% accurate when it comes to predicting the arrival of spring. And given the recent biting cold in New York City, eager eyes will surely peek from beneath hoods and over warm scarves to get a hopeful glance at Staten Island Chuck.

The Groundhog has been monitoring weather since 1981 at the Staten Island Zoo in West Brighton. And for four out of five years, on average, the Chuckster is right on the money.

In 2025, he hit paydirt again, predicting early spring. His prediction was followed by several days of warm weather within the next six weeks.

The Staten Island Zoo plans to reveal his most current accuracy record on Feb. 2, when the furry prognosticator emerges from a wooden hollow into his clear enclosure to look for his shadow.

The early spring forecast in 2024 was also right on the money.

Chuck’s extended winter-or-early spring predictions have been on point for the last 16 years; he was last officially wrong in 2009, the same year he bit former Mayor Michael Bloomberg. (Worth noting: In 2017, students at PS 45 who tracked Chuck’s prediction said he was wrong that year, too.)

According to Groundhog Day lore, if the groundhog sees its shadow it is predicting six more weeks of winter. If not, an early spring is on the way.

Staten Island Chuck’s recent performances:

2025: Early spring predicted, and supported by weather documented by students at Susan E. Wagner High School, as well as other weather forecasters.

2024: Prepare for another early spring, called Chuck, during the first public Groundhog Day ceremony at the Staten Island Zoo since 2020. Yet again, Chuck’s prediction was right as spring arrived a day earlier than usual.

2023: Early spring, he said, and he was correct. In fact, he was so right, New York didn’t even register any snow that year.

2022: Chuck called for an early spring. The ceremony was closed to the public for the second year in a row, but District Attorney Michael E. McMahon was on hand to announce Chuck’s prediction.

2021: For the seventh straight year, Chuck called for an early spring. The annual ceremony looked a bit different with no crowds cheering on Chuck. The Zoo pre-recorded the ceremony a short time before a major nor’easter, confusing several viewers. Chuck provided an accurate prediction.

2020: Weeks before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic shut down the entire world, people came out in droves to watch Chuck make his prediction. Unable to find his shadow, he accurately predicted an early spring.

2019: Chuck failed to find his shadow when exiting his burrow, calling for an early spring. While Mayor Bill de Blasio was not in attendance at the Zoo’s event, he didn’t escape a dig from then Rep. Max Rose (D-Staten Island/Brooklyn), who opened his speech with “(Deputy Borough President Ed Burke) drops jokes and animal facts like the mayor drops groundhogs.”

2018: Chuck searched in vain for his shadow, then predicted an early spring when he popped up from below in his plastic enclosure. He was right on the money. PS 45 students supported his prediction, since warmer days followed. Deputy Borough President Ed Burke acted as emcee during the annual celebration, while Public Advocate Letitia Lames and NYC Comptroller Scott Springer announced the prediction.

2017: Despite the early morning chill, Chuck predicted an early spring. Unfortunately, after six weeks of tracking the temperature, third-graders at PS 45 in West Brighton declared his prediction wrong. For the first time since 2009, Chuck made an inaccurate prediction. It happens to the best of us.

2016: A small crowd gathered at the Staten Island Zoo hoping for an early spring. And Chuck delivered. Despite a fervent search for his shadow, it was nowhere in sight, signaling the start of an early spring. This was Chuck’s second year in his new clear plastic enclosure.

2015: On a cold, wet February day, Chuck called for another early spring, as he failed to find his shadow in his newly minted clear plastic case. De Blasio stood a safe distance from the groundhog, reading the prediction from a scroll, after the fiasco that had taken place a year earlier.

2014: It was a dramatic Groundhog Day when the mayor said: “Chuck and my predecessor didn’t always get along, but I’m hoping we can start a new day,” and then proceeded to drop the poor animal. However, it turns out that the groundhog he dropped was Charlotte, Chuck’s mate, who had been swapped out before the ceremony. Unfortunately, Charlotte died seven days later, of what the Staten Island Zoo referred to as “unknown natural causes.” At least Charlotte died a martyr, making another accurate prediction, this time for six more weeks of winter.

2013: Then-City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said Chuck was “having a good day this morning,” adding that she had a “conference” with him about what was going to happen. Her pep talk must have worked, because he predicted an early spring, and he was right.

2012: A few days before the New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl for a second time, Chuck gave New Yorkers something else to cheer about. He predicted an early spring, and much to the delight of Emma Boyd, an 11-year-old student at Blessed Sacrament School, West Brighton, he was right. Boyd said, “I’m tired of winter now.”

2011: If ever there was a need for an early spring, 2011 would have been it. The weather was icy, slushy and cold while Chuck munched on corn and sweet potatoes and the audience enjoyed a Groundhog Day-themed cake made by Cake Boss Buddy Valastro. Chuck scurried out of his new log cabin home — with solar panels on the roof — but couldn’t find his shadow, signaling the start of an early spring that everyone so desperately desired.

2010: Chuck reminded us that sometimes you just need to press the snooze button even if you have work in the morning. Chuck overslept and had to be woken by chants of “We want Chuck” from the audience. Even though he was still drowsy, Chuck accurately predicted an early spring and began a streak of accurate predictions.

2009: Groundhog Day 2009 was a bad day for Chuck, and it will live on in New York City history as the day Staten Island Chuck bit then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The mayor held out an ear of corn in an attempt to lure Chuck, but Chuck didn’t appear very grateful. He ran over and bit the mayor’s hand before running off with the corn. To top it off, Chuck’s prediction was inaccurate.