{"id":102923,"date":"2026-02-02T14:13:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T14:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/102923\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T14:13:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T14:13:10","slug":"punxsutawney-phil-makes-groundhog-day-weather-prediction-in-pennsylvania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/102923\/","title":{"rendered":"Punxsutawney Phil makes Groundhog Day weather prediction in Pennsylvania"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n <\/p>\n

Pennsylvania’s “official state meteorologist,” Punxsutawney Phil, saw his shadow Monday morning, predicting six more weeks of winter.<\/p>\n

Thousands of people gathered for the 140th celebration of Groundhog Day<\/a> on Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to see the famous groundhog emerge from his tree stump.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, AccuWeather\u2019s chief long-range weather expert, meteorologist Paul Pastelok, said the coming week will remain cold, with below average temperatures<\/a> in the eastern United States.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019ve still got some more snow and ice to contend with” in the mid-Atlantic, Ohio River Valley and Northeastern U.S., he said.<\/p>\n

FOX WEATHER TO PROVIDE EXTENDED LIVE COVERAGE OF WINTER STORM IMPACTING THE NATION<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Punxsutawney <\/p>\n

Groundhog Club handler A.J. Dereume holds Punxsutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog, during the 137th celebration of Groundhog Day on Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa., Feb. 2, 2023. (AP Photo\/Barry Reeger, File)<\/p>\n

“The farther out you get the accuracy is not specifically on point all the time, but we can get trends,” Pastelok said about any long-range forecasts.<\/p>\n

While Phil made his annual prognostication, the National Centers for Environmental Information remains a skeptic of the animal’s prediction ability. The government agency last year\u00a0compared Phil\u2019s record<\/a>\u00a0with U.S. national temperatures over the prior decade and concluded he was right only 40% of the time.<\/p>\n

\"Groundhog <\/p>\n

Groundhog Club handler A.J. Dereume holds Punxsutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog, during the 140th celebration of Groundhog Day on Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa., Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. Phil’s handlers said that the groundhog has forecast six more weeks of winter. (AP Photo\/Barry Reeger)<\/p>\n

STATE’S RARE FREEZE GIVES RESIDENTS AND VISITORS GREEN LIGHT TO COLLECT STUNNED INVASIVE IGUANAS<\/a><\/p>\n

Among the political figures drawn to the Gobbler\u2019s Knob stage on Monday was U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, who noted his mother was from Punxsutawney. Also spotted were state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, who is currently pursuing the governorship, and top state Senate Republicans Joe Pittman and Kim Ward.<\/p>\n

\"Groundhog <\/p>\n

Groundhog Club President Tom Dunkel taps on the burrow of Punxsutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog, during the 140th celebration of Groundhog Day on Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa., Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. (AP Photo\/Barry Reeger)<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n

While Groundhog Day is considered a national holiday<\/a> and has even been popularized in the classic 1993 Bill Murray film of the same name, the day \u2014 and Phil himself \u2014 hold a special place in many Pennsylvanians’ hearts.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Pennsylvania’s “official state meteorologist,” Punxsutawney Phil, saw his shadow Monday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[16172,28,30,29,593,1133],"class_list":["post-102923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-celebrations","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-us","tag-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}