Punxsutawney Phil Predicts Six More Weeks of Winter on Groundhog Day 2025

Per American tradition, a groundhog saw its shadow Sunday morning indicating six more weeks of winter.

The longstanding Groundhog Day ceremony is held annually at Punxsutawney in western Pennsylvania, and the groundhog is named Punxsutawney Phil. The outdoor event can be viewed below:

Punxsutawney Phil woke up at 6:30 a.m. ET in frigid 19-degree weather and spotted his own shadow in front of members of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club at Gobbler’s Knob.

According to records dating back to 1887, Phil has predicted winter more than 100 times, but that’s only been 39% of the time, according to the Stormfax Weather Almanac. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information found on average, Phil has gotten it right 30% of the time over the past 10 years.

NOAA states that in 2024, Phil forecast an “early spring” when he didn’t see his shadow and predicted six weeks of spring temperatures. In fact, the contiguous United States saw above average temperatures in February and above average temperatures in March of last year. Phil was spot on in his forecast.

The event is based on a Pennsylvania-Dutch superstition that if a groundhog emerges from its burrow on February 2nd and sees its shadow due to clear weather, it will retreat to its den and winter will persist for six more weeks. However, if it does not see its shadow because of cloudiness, spring will arrive early.

While this tradition remains popular in America and single-handedly keeps top hats in fashion, studies have found no consistent correlation between a groundhog seeing its shadow and the subsequent arrival time of spring-like weather. But it’s fun and we like it.