Oversized Rat Punxsutawney Phil Predicts More Snow

The whole Groundhod Day tradition must be one of the most weird things out there. But, true to form, earlier today, a rodent called Punxsutawney Phil stuck his whiskery head out of the ground and predicted six more weeks of snow.

It may not have been a hard one to predict as another big snowstorm was heading his way and he lives in part of Pennsylvania that's up there.

Phil's prediction is based on whether he sees his own shadow, which sounds rather unscientific to me, but I'd still trust the fat rodent more than Michael Fish.

Also, which is unsurprising, given his size, Phil seems to see his shadow more often than not - 102 times since 1887 and just 17 times without seeing his shadow. The last time he predicted an early spring in 2013, winter dragged on and a local attorney petitioned for Phil to be put out of marmot misery.

Phil makes his predictions at Gobbler's Knob which is uncommonly accurate because back in the day, the Germans who settled these parts actually ate the groundhog, according to Time Magazine. He was said to taste like a cross between chicken and pork. They even mixed in some vodka and mad Groundhog punch, which sounds less than appetizing.

Phil's accuracy rate is just 39 percent, which means his may end up on a menu somewhere. In contract his New York cousin Staten Island Chuck, boasts an 82 percent success rate.

To find out more about Groundhog Day you can read my old blog post, if it doesn't feel too much like going back over Groundhog Day.