{"id":120056,"date":"2026-02-02T15:13:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T15:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/120056\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T15:13:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T15:13:11","slug":"punxsutawney-phil-makes-his-groundhog-day-winter-prediction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/120056\/","title":{"rendered":"Punxsutawney\u00a0Phil makes his Groundhog Day winter prediction"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0cold is sticking around<\/a>\u00a0for a little longer.<\/p>\n

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow after emerging from his den in Pennsylvania on Monday morning \u2014 signifying six more weeks of wintry weather.<\/p>\n

If the world-famous prognosticating groundhog had not seen his shadow, it would\u2019ve meant spring was near.<\/p>\n

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, predicting six more weeks of winter. AP<\/p>\n

The chilly news was greeted with a mix of cheers and boos from the tens of thousands of revelers who braved the negative-1-degree weather at Gobbler\u2019s Knob in the small borough of Punxsutawney in Jefferson County.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh\u00a0local Lisa Gibson, who\u00a0showed up for\u00a0her 10th\u00a0Groundhog Day, was among those rooting for Phil not to see his shadow.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, man, it just breaks up the doldrums of winter,\u201d\u00a0she said while wearing a lighted hat that resembled the tree stump Phil emerged from shortly after daybreak.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like Halloween and New Year\u2019s Eve all wrapped up into one holiday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Revelers braved the cold to celebrate Phil and await his prediction. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s just fun \u2014 folks having a good time,\u201d said Rick Siger, who was attending his fourth straight Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt brings people together at a challenging time. It is a unifying force that showcases the best of Pennsylvania, the best of Punxsutawney, this area.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The annual folklore ritual dates back more than a century.<\/p>\n

Punxsutawney Phil\u2019s Inner Circle arrives at Gobbler\u2019s Knob on Feb. 2, 2026.<\/p>\n

As part of the tradition, members of the Inner Circle \u2014 recognized by their top hats and tuxedos \u2014 gathered around Phil\u2019s stump as scores of eager viewers watched.<\/p>\n

At daybreak, Phil was woken and spoke to the president of the Inner Circle, Tom Dunkel, in \u201cGroundhogese\u201d \u2014 the\u00a0only person who understands the language because of an ancient acacia wood cane.<\/p>\n

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The event\u2019s president then translated the message before Phil\u2019s prediction was read out to the crowd from one of the two prepared scrolls.<\/p>\n

Phil has been scrutinized for his accuracy in recent years, having only accurately forecasted the weather approximately 35% of the time, according to the\u00a0National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.<\/a><\/p>\n

Punxsutawney Phil rests after he made his winter prediction. AP<\/p>\n

An estimated crowd of 30,000 braved sub zero temperatures to await Punxsutawney Phil\u2019s weather prediction of 6 more weeks of winter. Getty Images<\/p>\n

However, out of 19 weather-predicting rodents, Phil\u2019s New York cousin, Staten Island Chuck, led the way in accuracy, scoring a more favorable 85 percent prediction rate.<\/p>\n

In the weeks leading up to his big day, Phil toured the commonwealth, including a stop outside Penn State University in State College, where his appearance produced a wait time of over two hours, according to the\u00a0Centre County Gazette.<\/a><\/p>\n

Animal rights activists led by PETA \u2014\u00a0putting on\u00a0their own yearly tradition \u2014 called for Punxsutawney Phil to retire, and this year suggested a\u00a0hologram\u00a0replace the beloved animal.<\/a><\/p>\n

Punxsutawney Phil has been scrutinized for his accuracy. REUTERS<\/p>\n

The animal rights organization sent a letter to Dunkel,\u00a0requesting that the fluffy weather predictor be replaced with a dazzling 3-D projection complete with \u201cvocal weather predictions,\u201d to let\u00a0Phil and his family retire from the annual Feb. 2 ceremony to a \u201creputable sanctuary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year, before Phil declared six more weeks of winter, PETA suggested organizers use a \u201cweather reveal\u201d vegan cake instead of the lovable groundhog.<\/p>\n

With Post wires<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The\u00a0cold is sticking around\u00a0for a little longer. Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow after emerging from his den in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[50587,9,11,10,3909,52454,6089,58,8993],"class_list":["post-120056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-groundhog-day","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-punxsutawney-phil","tag-spring","tag-us-news","tag-winter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}