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Punxsutawney Phil Scoffs At The Idea Of An Early Spring

Groundhog Club handler Ron Ploucha holds Punxsutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog, during the 129th celebration of Groundhog Day on Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa., on  Monday. Phil saw his shadow, predicting six more weeks of winter weather.
Gene J. Puskar
/
AP
Groundhog Club handler Ron Ploucha holds Punxsutawney Phil, the weather prognosticating groundhog, during the 129th celebration of Groundhog Day on Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa., on Monday. Phil saw his shadow, predicting six more weeks of winter weather.

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this morning, which, according to tradition, portends another six weeks of winter.

On an overcast morning, Phil the groundhog gazed at the sky, looked for his shadow and at about 7:25 a.m. ET told his handler Bill Deeley his prediction: "Forecasts abound on the Internet, but, I, Punxsutawney Phil am still your best bet. Yes, a shadow I see, you can head to Twitter, hashtag: Six more weeks of winter!"

Phil's prediction on Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa., came as a winter storm moved from the Midwest to the Northeast.

According to lore, if Phil sees his shadow on Feb. 2, winter will last another six weeks. If not, spring will come early.

Phil's accuracy is debatable. Famously, in 2013 he predicted an early spring. What we got was several more winter storms after that call. Deely, his handler, issued a mea culpa at the time: "I'm the guy that did it; I'll be the fall guy. It's not Phil's fault."

Last year, Phil predicted six more weeks of winter and got it right. But as NPR's Scott Neuman noted: "According to Stormfax.com, the groundhog method of forecasting is, well, less than reliable. Phil's gotten it right just 39 percent of the time since 1887. Weather models, probabilities and all else aside, that's worse than a simple coin toss."

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Krishnadev Calamur is NPR's deputy Washington editor. In this role, he helps oversee planning of the Washington desk's news coverage. He also edits NPR's Supreme Court coverage. Previously, Calamur was an editor and staff writer at The Atlantic. This is his second stint at NPR, having previously worked on NPR's website from 2008-15. Calamur received an M.A. in journalism from the University of Missouri.

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