Dueling Groundhogs: Punxsutawney Phil, Staten Island Chuck Disagree On Forecast
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — Dueling groundhogs: Punxsutawney Phil and Staten Island Chuck disagreed Friday on their predictions for the rest of winter.
Legend has it if a furry rodent casts a shadow on Groundhog Day, Feb. 2, expect six more weeks of winter-like weather. If not, expect spring-like temperatures.
Phil Friday saw his shadow, predicting six more weeks of winter while Chuck did not see his shadow, meaning spring is coming.
In reality, Phil's prediction is decided ahead of time by the group on Gobbler's Knob, a tiny hill just outside of Punxsutawney.
Records dating to 1887 show Phil predicting more winter 102 times while forecasting an early spring just 18 times. No records exist for the remaining years.
On Staten Island, Mayor Bill de Blasio did not attend this year's event, several years after he famously dropped a groundhog in 2014 that later died. However the zoo says it was unlikely that the death was related to being dropped.
The mayor's spokesman, Eric Phillips, says the mayor hasn't attended in recent years and has many other events to attend. The zoo's groundhog Chuck has made weather predictions for more than three decades.
Other Tri-State area groundhogs also made their predictions on Friday.
On Long Island, Malverne Mel said six more weeks of winter while Holtsville Hal predicted early spring.
(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
