Punxsutawney Phil may be the most well-known groundhog to forecast early spring, but he doesn’t have the best track record, according to a tongue-in-cheek analysis by NOAA.
In fact, Pennsylvania’s famous forecasting rodent ranks 18th on a list of peer groundhogs who make annual appearances every Feb. 2 — on Groundhog Day — to answer the pressing question, “Four more weeks of winter or early spring?”
Phil has been outperformed by living woodchucks from New York, Georgia, Illinois and Wisconsin.
The top performer, with an 85 percent accuracy rating, is “Staten Island Chuck,” who lives at the Staten Island Zoo in New York City.