STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Don’t blame the groundhog, folks.

On Monday morning, Staten Island Chuck — a.k.a Charles G. Hogg — ventured out of his burrow at the Staten Island Zoo in West Brighton and saw his shadow, predicting six more weeks of winter.

The zoo was forced to adjust the festivities this year, as the Groundhog Day ceremony was closed to the public due to continued below-freezing temperatures — perhaps an early indicator of the prediction.

1/22

Staten Island Groundhog Day 2026

While not drawing a crowd like the year prior, Chuck’s 2026 prediction did see dozens of local officials, preschoolers from the Staten Island YMCA and a cadre of high school students from Susan E. Wagner High School, Sea View, who will serve as Chuck’s “weather checkers.”

“It’s really exciting, I’ve never gotten to see this before,” said Ava Ilardi a Westerleigh resident and senior at Susan E. Wagner High School who will keep Chuck in check.

“Doing it as part of the AP environmental class [at Wagner], I think is really special, because we have an entire class devoted to everything to do with the weather and nature,” Ilardi continued. “Even though, you know, it’s not like a tried-and-true scientific phenomenon, it’s fun to see a folk story and science intersect.”

Officials take the stage

Emceed by District Attorney Michael E. McMahon, the event was well attended by Staten Island’s political class, including Councilmembers Kamillah Hanks, David Carr and Frank Morano, along with State Sen. Jessica Scarcella-Spanton and Assemblymember Michael Tannousis.

Two New York City officials were also greeted warmly by the crowd, Department of Sanitation Borough Chief Christopher Hancock and NYC Parks Borough Commissioner Joseph Homsey.

The festivities also took a back seat, briefly, as McMahon called for a moment of silence to remember one of last year’s co-hosts, Cara Liander Gordon, 41, who died in November.

Monday’s event was sponsored by Citizens’ Bank, which contributed funds for the ceremony, high school weather monitoring and care for the zoo’s resident groundhog.

“The fact that we get to sponsor the event here in the Staten Island Zoo, have the local schools and the children participate, it’s very exciting,” said Yajaira Hafley, Tristate metro retail market executive at Citizens.

Winter of discontent

While the officials cajoled Chuck for a prediction of early spring, many in attendance left disappointed with the call for an extended winter.

“We’re very sad, there’s a lot of heartbreak,” said Abigail Saladis, a Wagner High School senior who lives in Westerleigh. “Very unfortunate to see maybe there’s more ice and snow coming our way, but you know, we have to trust him.”

And Chuck is one groundhog to trust. The borough’s most famous animal boasts a nearly 90% accuracy rate according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

A few other stragglers from the public were able to slip in to see the rodent prognosticator’s prediction, including one family who ventured all the way from Queens.

“We got up at 5 [a.m.] to get here,” said Tom Boland of Bayside, who came along with his children Declan, 12, and Bridget, 11. “We’ve been here twice before. It’s such a great event, and it’s a local one so we have to support a local one.”

Chuck’s forecast on Monday was a change of pace, as it ended a 12-year streak of Chuck calling for an early spring which dates back to 2014.

Longtime Staten Islanders might also remember the 2014 prediction for other reasons, as it was also the year that then-Mayor Bill de Blasio accidentally dropped Staten Island Chuck.

“I think Chuck made the right call about six more weeks of winter,” said Ken Mitchell, executive director of the Staten Island Zoo.

“Everyone looks forward to Groundhog Day here on Staten Island. It’s a fantastic event, it’s a real community event and Staten Island Zoo is proud to put this on every year,” he continued.

A decades-long beef

In Pennsylvania, Chuck’s rival, Punxsutawney Phil, also called for six more weeks of winter after seeing his shadow.

Phil shared his prediction from his home at Gobbler’s Knob, in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, where he’s been delivering his predictions since 1886.

It was a rare instance of agreement for the two, who have a history of different opinions.

In 2025, Chuck predicted an early spring, while Phil did not. And again, Staten Island’s student weather trackers confirmed Chuck’s accuracy.

According to the StormFax Weather Almanac, Phil has just an overall accuracy rate of 39% over 135 years.

Including last year’s early spring forecast , Chuck’s extended winter-or-early spring predictions have been accurate for much of the last two decades.

After being wrong in 2009, the same year he bit then- Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Chuck slipped up in 2017, when students at PS 45 who tracked Chuck’s prediction said he was wrong that year.