Current Groundhog Phil says it's going to stay cold in the U.S.
If the famous groundhog Phil is to be believed, the US is in for six more weeks of winter weather. Phil has seen his shadow, according to several US media outlets.
02.02.2025, 14:44
SDA
At an event in the small town of Punxsutawney in the US state of Pennsylvania, the world-famous groundhog announced his prediction to a cheering crowd, which was interpreted and "translated" by the chairman of the "Groundhog Club".
The world-famous tradition is that every year on February 2, the members of the "Inner Circle" of the "Groundhog Club" take the groundhog out of his tree stump at sunrise and question him. For over 130 years, Phil has supposedly always made correct predictions.
How reliable are the predictions?
The "Groundhog Club" explains that any discrepancy between the actual weather and Phil's forecast is due to translation errors, not a misprediction. In fact, the groundhog is correct in less than half of all cases - a coin toss would be even more accurate as a forecast.
The tradition, which has attracted worldwide attention, was probably brought to Pennsylvania by German immigrants. It became particularly well known thanks to the 1993 Hollywood film "Groundhog Day" starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell.
