Punxsutawney Phil or Staten Island Chuck?

The world's most famous furry forecaster, Punxsutawney Phil, will pop out of his burrow Saturday morning to tell the nation what our weather will be like for the next six weeks. Will we have an early spring, or will winter dig in its heels until mid-March?According to folklore, if it's cloudy when the groundhog emerges from its burrow Saturday, it will leave the burrow, signifying that winter will soon end. If, however, it's a sunny day, Phil will supposedly see his shadow and, frightened, retreat back into his burrow, and winter will continue for six more weeks.
The current forecast from the National Weather Service is for a cloudy, snowy day, but Phil is a fickle fuzzball, so it's hard to know what he'll do.
Groundhog Day: What will unpredictable Phil forecast?


A famous Staten Island resident starts each day at 8 a.m. training for a yearly event that often draws hundreds of people from the five boroughs and New Jersey. To prepare for this program, he works out with a personal trainer and focuses on eating a healthy diet, rich in vegetables and protein.
After his work is done, he gets to spend some time with his girlfriend, with whom he'll share dinner and some quality R&R.
However, this Staten Island celebrity isn't human.
It's none other than Charles G. Hogg (aka Staten Island Chuck), an 8 1/2-pound groundhog who resides in a custom-built log cabin with a retractable roof and solar panels that power a functioning weather station at the Staten Island Zoo. The entire metropolitan area looks to Chuck's annual prediction.
Chuck and his galpal, Charlotte, are the only genuine groundhogs in any of the city's zoos.
Each year on Feb. 2, Chuck predicts whether spring will come early. "Over 31 years, he has been right 25 times," said Kenneth Mitchell, the Zoo's executive director. That's an 80 percent success clip.
The prediction is simple: If Chuck sees his shadow, we'll have six more weeks of winter. If not, we'll have an early spring.
I wonder if he'll take the traditional bite out of Mayor Mikey?

Take that Phil. SI Chuck raring to go.

Then there's Groundhog Day: The Movie.

And 12 Things You Probably Don't Know About Groundhog Day The Movie.