Move over, Phil: Here are other groundhogs that weigh in on the forecast

03:07

Staten Island Chuck predicts early spring on Groundhog Day

Yet another year has come and gone with folks growing weary of a cold and dreary winter, but here come the groundhogs with their annual glimmer of hope.

Yet another year has come and gone with folks growing weary of a cold and dreary winter, but here come the groundhogs with their annual glimmer of hope.

February 2nd brings with it all the pageantry that a rodent can muster. Punxsutawney Phil may be the household name for Groundhog Day, but it turns out that Phil has competition.

FOX Weather went underground to track down other fuzzy friends that throw their forecast out to the public just by poking their noses outside.  Here's our list of the most notable, memorable and just plain wacky groundhogs making a spring forecast.

Just a quick refresher: No shadow means early spring. A shadow means six more weeks of winter. 

Punxsutawney Phil - Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania

Phil "emerging" from his hole to a crowd of 40,000 in 2002.

(Chris Hondros / Getty Images)

HOW ACCURATE IS PUNXSUTAWNEY PHIL?

The tradition started 138 years ago. Groundhog Day on Gobbler’s Knob made the local paper. The next year, residents made their way to the knob to celebrate, according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club website. 

Today, tens of thousands celebrate Phil "emerging" from hibernation for his prognostication. Organizers advise guests to arrive at 3:30 a.m. for the live music and pre-dawn fireworks show. 

Toronto's Gary the Groundhog had less glamorous digs in 1995. The master of ceremonies pulled a cardboard box off the day's star, which was enclosed in chicken wire.

WILL PUNXSUTAWNEY PHIL SEE HIS SHADOW FRIDAY ON GROUNDHOG DAY?

Gary the Groundhog saw his shadow in Toronto in 1995.

(Brian Dexter/Toronto Star / Getty Images)

Staten Island Chuck – Staten Island, New York

Chuck made national news when he bit New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's finger in 2009. Bloomberg reached into the groundhog’s cage, which did not work out well. Chuck lives at the Staten Island Zoo.

Then, in 2014, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio dropped the squirming rodent, which died a week later. Zoo officials claimed the fall was not related to the death.

FORGET THE GROUNDHOG PREDICTION: 7 ANIMALS WHO WILL GIVE PUNXSUTAWNEY PHIL A RUN FOR HIS MONEY

00:33

Staten Island Chuck dropped

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio dropped Staten Island Chuck on Groundhog Day 2014.

Chuck was actually Charlotte, Chuck’s granddaughter. He was secretly replaced after the biting incident, according to FOX News.

Jimmy the Groundhog – Sun Prairie, Wisconsin

Jimmy bit Sun Prairie, Wisconsin Mayor Jonathan Freund in 2015 while the man leaned in to "hear" the groundhog’s forecast. The mayor declared there would be an early spring, but Jimmy’s handlers said the official got it wrong.

FOX 6 later reported that the U.S. Department of Agriculture informed the town that capturing wild animals for the exhibit was against the law. PETA also sent a letter demanding Jimmy’s immediate release. Town officials released him back into the wild.

Starting in 2016, a new Jimmy predicted weather from inside a cage.  

ANIMALS OTHER THAN PUNXSUTAWNEY PHIL THAT WILL TRY TO PREDICT END OF WINTER ON GROUNDHOG DAY

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Jimmy the Groundhog bites mayor's ear

Jimmy the Groundhog bit the Sun Prairie mayor's ear during a Groundhog Day celebration in 2015.

Potomac Phil – Washington, D.C.

Potomac Phil is a bit less "lively" than his fellow rodents – he is stuffed. Yes, organizers help the taxidermied groundhog to the podium every year to predict not only the weather but the political climate as well. The Dupont Circle Business Improvement District puts on the annual event in Washington, D.C. and calls Potomac Phil, the National Groundhog.

Photo ops are very safe around this groundhog, he's taxidermized.

(KAREN BLEIER/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Boulder, Colorado, also takes no chances with nibbling rodents. Flatiron Freddy is also stuffed. Take a look at a park ranger after he took Freddy off the raptor he "flew in on" and "showed him" his shadow in the shade in 2023.

WHY SPRING SHOULD ACTUALLY BEGIN ON MARCH 1

Kharkiv, Ukraine – Babak Timko III

Groundhog mania even extends across the pond. Karazin University in Ukraine started a Feb. 2 celebration based on Punxsutawney Phil in 2004. Biologists gathered journalists for the event to bolster conservation efforts for the animal, according to a university publication.

He had a rough year in 2022, though. A reporter for the Ukrinform wrote, "It is impossible not to notice: Timko has lost weight and, according to the caretakers, does not sleep, although he should have in the winter."

The handler had to wake up the rodent, according to the paper.

HOW TO WATCH FOX WEATHER

The handler had to wake Timko up in 2023. He did not see his shadow.

(Sofiia Bobok/Anadolu Agency / Getty Images)

Russia invaded and captured the village of Nesterivka, home to the university. 

"Both Timko and employees of the Faculty of Biology, Volodymyr Ronkin and Halyna Savchenko, who take care of the marmots (groundhogs), were occupied for seven long months," a spokesperson at the university told Ukrinform. "At the risk of their lives, Volodymyr and Halyna brought food, their favorite bread and cookies, to the animals… without electricity, light, drinking water from a well and without a telephone connection."

Finally, on Sept. 11, 2022, Ukraine's armed forces liberated the region.

Biologists also have Timko make a more humorous forecast. In 2023, he had to choose to run to borscht ingredients: beets, carrots, bread, potatoes or cabbage. He picked beets. His handler told Ukrinform, "So it is worth focusing on this particular vegetable."

Timko's handler shows him the various food items before releasing the groundhog, to make his choice.

(Sofiia Bobok/Anadolu Agency / Getty Images)

General Beauregard Lee – Jackson, Georgia

Beau holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Georgia for "Weather Prognostication" and another from Georgia State University in "Southern Groundology," FOX News reported. 

02:26

Learning about the tradition of Groundhog Day

Ike English, Director at Dauset Trails in Jackson, GA, joined FOX Weather Sunrise to talk about the history and significance of Groundhog Day. General Beauregard Lee is the Groundhog in Jackson, GA.

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Wiarton Willie – Wiarton, Ontario

Canada's Wiarton Willie began as a fur hat in 1957, according to Mac McKenzie, a Wiarton resident. He told a Toronto Star reporter that the fur hat in the snow was actually an albino groundhog looking for its shadow.

The town’s Groundhog Day celebration grew in popularity along with Willie. 

Wiarton erected a statue of Willie.

Mac McKenzie put Wiarton, Ontario on the map in 1957 when he told a Toronto Star reporter that a fur hat that McKenzie planted in the snow was a groundhog looking for its shadow.

(Photo by Andrew Francis Wallace/Toronto Star via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Woodstock Willie – Woodstock, Illinois

Woodstock, a town northwest of Chicago, is home to another Willie. Bill Murray actually filmed the movie "Groundhog Day" in the town, according to FOX 32 Chicago. 

Bill Murray runs through the snow in a scene from the film 'Groundhog Day', 1993. The film was shot in Woodstock, Illinois. 

(Columbia Pictures/Getty Images / FOX Weather)

Stormy Marmot – Aurora, Colorado

Stormy Marmot is one of the few famous groundhogs west of the Mississippi. Don’t be confused by the name. Groundhogs are also known as woodchucks, whistle pigs and marmots. Fitting with their name, they spend most of their time underground.

Dunkirk Dave – Dunkirk, New York

Dave is the second-longest prognosticating groundhog, according to his website. Dave’s handler, Bob Will, wrote on the site that, as a teacher and wildlife rehabilitator, he would always bring a groundhog into his classroom for Groundhog Day. The local newspaper nicknamed the woodchuck "Dunkirk Dave."

Buckeye Chuck – Marion, Ohio

Buckeye Chuck was named Ohio’s official Groundhog Day prognosticator in 1979.