Every year on February 2nd, the Groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, looks to see if he sees his shadow. If he doesn’t see his shadow, then we will have an early spring. If he does see his shadow, we are predicted six more weeks of winter.
This year on Monday, February 2nd, 2026, the groundhog looked out of his hole and saw his shadow, so the legend says that we will have six more weeks of Winter.
The legend began in Germany, long before Punxsutawney Phil was ever in the circle, drawing on ancient European weather lore. They originally used hedgehogs as season change predictors. February 2nd is the celebration of Candlemas Day, half way betweent he winter solstice and the spring equinox. The clear skies meant a longer, harsher winter, and clouds signaled early spring.
When German immigrants came to Pennsylvania in the late 1700s and early 1800s, the tradition came with it, but was switched to a groundhog when they realized hedgehogs were not native to the region. From there, it spread, and it is still a tradition to this day.
Over the past ten years, the groundhog’s accuracy has been about 30%-40% accurate.
In 2025 the he saw his shadow and predicted more winter, and that March was warm, so wrong. In 2024, he didn’t see his shadow and predicted early spring, which was right, as spring came early. In 2023, saw his shadow and predicted more winter, and spring was “early”. In 2022, he saw his shadow and predicted more winter, and winter lingered somewhere, but overall, the spring came early. In 2021, saw his shadwoa nd predicted more winter, but again was wrong. In 2020, he did see his shadow and predicted early spring, and was correct; the late winter was warmer, leading into early spring.
