America is in even more disarray this morning, and not just because of Trump's latest divisive actions: this morning the nation's top prognosticating groundhogs are completely at odds about what weather will be coming our way.
Staten Island Chuck, the Staten Island Zoo's resident groundhog—whose ancestors have famously bitten mayors or been murdered by them, predicted an early spring from behind his enclosure. The Staten Island Advance reports: "Like the last two years, Chuck was held underneath a spacious glass enclosure and was then lifted into the enclosure via a small elevator, or the 'Chuck-a-vator.' The elevator remained above ground while Chuck searched for his shadow."
Mayor Bill "Groundhog Killer" de Blasio did not attend the ceremony; Public Advocate Letitia James and City Comptroller Scott Stringer appeared in his stead and managed not to kill the current groundhog.
Over by Gobbler's Knob, just outside of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, meaning winter is still coming.
Six More Weeks of Winter!! #punxsutawneyphil #ghd2017
A photo posted by groundhog club (@punxsyphil) on
Of course, some say that Phil was wrong before he even woke up.
Staten Island Chuck has an 80% accuracy rate. The Advance also breaks down how one determines whether a groundhog does know anything about the weather:
The number 40 is crucial to Chuck's prediction. The arrival of an early spring or the persistence of winter is measured by the amount of days over and under 40 degrees between the end of the Groundhog Day ceremony Feb. 2 and the six weeks until the first day of spring March 21. If the majority of the days in between are above 40 degrees, it's considered an early spring. If the majority of the days in between fall below 40 degrees, it's considered to be six more weeks of winter.
Guess we'll see later whether we need to watch out for that first step:
