It’s Groundhog Day!
As Floridians huddle under record-breaking cold, a groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil, prognosticator of prognosticators, emerged from his den and announced in rhyme that he saw his shadow. That means six more weeks of winter.
Watch live below:
Groundhog Day livestream
Groundhog Day is a playful civic tradition that helps break up the long winter monotony, and it was the inspiration for a classic Bill Murray movie that brought even more national attention to the forecasting woodchuck.
7:27: Phil predicts 6 more weeks of winter
The groundhog handlers knocked on Phil’s log door and produced him from his home, to cheering crowds.
President of the Inner Circle and groundhog interpreter Tom Dunkel listened to him carefully, and the prediction was announced: Six more weeks of winter.
Phil saw his shadow. Sorry, everyone.
7:16: The Inner Circle arrives
The Inner Circle, the black-top-hatted group that feeds and “interprets” Phil’s groundhogese prediction, have arrived on stage.
6:58 a.m. 15-minute mark
After a rousing song “Wake Up Phil” by the Groundhog Day house band, watchers at Gobblers Knob were urged closer as a video about Phil started. Groundhog time is now roughly 15 minutes away, the announcer said.
6:35 a.m. Fireworks!
The event is nearing. After some rousing music, much of it rewritten to be groundhog-related, fireworks are being set off to the tune of the Imperial March from Star Wars. What this suggests about the coming prediction is unclear.
Now it’s the Superman Theme from the first “Superman” movie, so we’re getting mixed signals.
6:15 a.m. Groundhog Day festivities have been going on for hours
Think you’re cold? People have been partying at Gobbler’s Knob for hours in weather that hit 7 degrees this morning.
Groundhog time is about an hour away, as local politicians and civic leaders are being introduced.
Why does it mean more winter if a groundhog sees its shadow?
As the legend goes, if the groundhog sees its shadow on Feb. 2, winter will go on for six more weeks.
If it does not, there will be an early spring.
Multiple local folk traditions have long held that if the weather was sunny and clear on Feb. 2, which is halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, it meant the second half of the winter would be stormy and cold. People were already struggling to last through winter by that point and were hoping for a little good news.
On a sunny and clear day, a groundhog (or anyone else) would see a shadow in the morning.
In western countries in the North Hemisphere, the official first day of spring is about six weeks after Groundhog Day, on March 20 or 21.
How accurate is Punxsutawney Phil?
The ceremony is fun, full of top-hatted bombast and ritual and the translation of “groundhogese.” But is Phil actually accurate?
Not especially. In 2025, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Environmental Information compared the critter’s forecasts (and the forecasts of 18 other famed weather prognosticating animals) to actual U.S. national temperatures for the previous 20 years. Phil was only right about 35% of the time.
The Stormfax Weather Almanac went even further, looking at the groundhog’s predictions back to the first one in 1887. As of 2025, Phil has seen his shadow 109 times and has been right about 39% of the time, the almanac said.
When is Groundhog Day 2026?
Groundhog Day in the United States and Canada is held on Feb. 2 every year. In 2026, that lands on a Monday.
Does Florida have a weather prognosticating groundhog?
Groundhogs are not native to Florida. But the Sunshine State has several other weather-predicting critters to watch today, including:
How did Groundhog Day get started?
Groundhog Day grew out of western European traditions.
Since the fifth century, European Celts believed animals had special senses to predict the weather, according to the groundhog’s historical competitor, the National Weather Service. Some local storytellers said marmots or bears had this supernatural ability; some later changed this to groundhogs or foxes.
Whatever the magical animal, superstitions formed that if it poked its head out on the local equivalent of Feb. 2 and saw its shadow (meaning the sun was out), bad weather was coming.
The Romans adopted the practice as Hedgehog Day, and after Christianity arose this and other pagan traditions around the same time evolved into Candlemas Day, the NWS said.
In the 1700s, Pennsylvania Dutch immigrants brought the German Candlemas traditions with them, including the groundhog.
When was the first Groundhog Day?
The earliest mention of Groundhog Day in the U.S. was in a diary from 1841 when Morgantown, Pennsylvania storekeeper James Morris wrote, “Last Tuesday, the 2nd, was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans, the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks nap, but if the day be cloudy he remains out, as the weather is to be moderate,” according to author Don Yoder.
The first reported observance was in Punxsutawney Spirit newspaper of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, in 1886, when it authoritatively stated that “up to the time of going to press, the beast has not seen its shadow,” according to an article in The Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine.
The first “official” Groundhog Day ceremony was held there the next year at Gobbler’s Knob, where it is still held nearly 120 years later.
Why is the groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil?
“Punxsutawney” evolved from the indigenous peoples’ names for insects (ponkies). Members of the Shawneee tribe called their village Ponkis Utenink, or land of the ponkies.
For years, the famous weather forecaster was just called “The Punxsutawney Groundhog” or “Br’er Groundhog” until 1961, when it was dubbed Punxsutawney Phil.
The name was reportedly in homage to an undefined King Phillip and possibly in remembrance of the groundhogs Liz and Phil the town sent to Los Angeles’s Griffith Park Zoo eight years earlier only for the California Department of Agriculture to declare them “agricultural pests” and have them destroyed, an act that angered many Punxsutawney residents, according to Austin Thompson of Mental Floss.
A name was becoming necessary at the time, as other Pennsylvania towns were starting to hold their own Groundhog Day ceremonies and Punxsutawney wanted to protect the brand, Thompson said.
What are the most accurate weather-predicting animals?
According to NOAA’s analysis, the top 10 regional animal celebrities (or at least their handlers/interpreters) with the most accurate forecasts were:
Punxsutawney Phil came in at No. 17 after six other groundhogs, three of them taxidermied.
C. A. Bridges is a journalist for the USA TODAY Network-Florida’s service journalism Connect team. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday day by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY.
(This story was updated with new information.)
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Punxsutawney Phil says 6 more weeks of winter in 2026 Groundhog Day
Reporting by C. A. Bridges, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
