Punxsutawney Phil Predicts Six More Weeks Of Winter

In front of a crowd of excited onlookers Wednesday morning, America’s most famous groundhog Punxsutawney Phil appeared from a tree stump in Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, and delivered his prediction: he saw his shadow and predicted six more weeks of winter.

Phil delivered this same prediction last year, and turned out to be incorrect. The 2021 Groundhog Day celebrations did not happen in person, so excitement from locals and tourists coming to see the event seemed palpable from video. According to event organizers, this was the largest crowd in attendance ever.

“Each year, we are honored to introduce the world to Punxsutaweny Phil,’ said Jeff Lundy, President of the Inner Circle, the top hat-clad group that cares for Phil year-round, organizes the annual Groundhog Day celebrations, and translates his language of “groundhogese,” when he makes his predictions. “The time-honored Pennsylvania tradition gives us an opportunity to show how proud we are of Punxsutawney, while also inviting visitors and spectators from around the world to join in spreading joy, no matter what the weather might hold.”

Phil has been making these predictions, which originate in German and Celtic folklore, since as early as 1887, but competition in the rodent seer industry is much steeper than before. In New York, the groundhog Staten Island Chuck countered Phil with an early spring prediction, according to Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon. A midwest groundhog, Woodstock Willie, who actually hails from the Illinois town of Woodstock where they filmed the iconic Groundhog Day movie, also did not see his shadow and predicted an early spring.

We’ll see soon enough if Phil’s prediction trumps the new upstarts.

You can watch a livestream of the event below: