While Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow this morning in Pennsylvania, Woody the Woodchuck, who lives at the Howell Nature Center and is Michigan’s official predictor of spring, saw her shadow this morning, which means we are likely in for six more weeks of winter.
Before you get excited over Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction, he’s only been right 39% of the time since his first shadow sighting in 1887. On the other hand, Woody has a 70% accuracy rate since 1999. According to some, females are much more accurate at predicting how much longer we will have to keep our snow shovels at the ready.
U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin honored Woody with her own proclamation marking Feb. 2 as Woodchuck Day in Michigan’s 7th district.
“It’s not every day you get to meet a local legend,” Slotkin said. “Woody says we’ll have six more weeks of winter. That other guy Phil thinks it will be an early spring, but we know history has shown that a Michigan woodchuck is far more reliable than a Pennsylvania groundhog.”
