Staten Island Chucks Groundhog Day prediction may mean Punxsutawney Phil is full of it

Staten Island Chuck says Punxsutawney Phil is full of it.New York’s City’s resident groundhog didn’t see his shadow on Sunday, meaning a swift end to winter despite his more famous prognosticating counterpart from Pennsylvania’s predicting another six weeks earlier in the day.Despite Phil’s worldwide fame — sparked by a 132-year-old folk tale and boosted considerably by an iconic 1993 Bill Murray film — the Staten Island woodchuck has been historically more accurate than his Keystone State counterpart, according to WPIX.Chuck has an 85% accuracy rate, the station said.But Phil predicts a lengthy winter much more often, and he’s only right about a third of the time, according to one NOAA study. The Groundhog Day ritual — a remnant of German folklore that took root in western Pennsylvania more than a century ago — declares that if the groundhog in question emerges from his den and sees his own shadow, the country is in for another month-and-a-half of winter.Sometimes, Phil and Chuck stand at odds — although last year, they both accurately predicted an early spring, according to SILive.The Feb.

2 tradition began with the early Christian holiday of Candlemas, where the faithful would bring candles to the churches so they could be blessed.Eventually, the idea spread that a sunny, cloudless sky on the chosen day meant a longer winter, the outlet added.Europeans originally based their forecasts on the actions of the hedgehog.There aren’t any wild hedgehogs in the New World but there are lots of groundhogs — and the Germans embraced the bane of gardeners everywhere as their new weather forecaster.“As German settlers came to what is now the United States, so too came their traditions and folklore,” Punxsutawney organizers said on its website.“With the absence of hedgehogs in the United States, a similar hibernating animal was chosen.”Punxsutawney Phil has become the peculiar holiday’s king, and more than 40,000 spectators flock to the...