This time of year, people traditionally turn to an unlikely source for some weather predictions - a little groundhog who may or may not see his shadow.
Punxsutawney Phil is his name, and this year, the little guy saw his shadow, which according to legend means that we'll be stuck with winter for another six weeks.
But here in Ohio, our own groundhog named Buckeye Chuck had quite a different prediction - he did not see his shadow, traditionally meaning an early spring is on the way.
But why exactly do we consult groundhogs for the winter weather?
"February 2nd, right here in the midpoint of winter, there’s a lot of religious and cultural significance, but it kind of became one of those things where we incorporated some animals and we like to have our folklore in there too," said Dan Hodges. "It started in Pennsylvania with the Germans; there wasn’t any badges around, here so groundhogs became the next guy."
Dan Hodges, a naturalist with the Johnny Appleseed Metro Park District, says that there's a lot more than just seeing shadows when it comes to groundhogs.
"He’s made for digging, and he can close off his nose, his ears, his eyes, and his fur shakes off dirt, and he can climb trees, there’s a lot of cool things that we can talk about groundhogs outside of the February 2nd holiday," said Hodges.
But if we are talking shadows - between the different predictions of Phil and Chuck, and Phil's accuracy rate of only about 50 percent, Hodges says you may want to stick with another source for winter weather forecasts.
"These groundhogs are generally not as accurate as maybe some meteorologists that we know locally, so if you are lying on those groundhogs I would say do it at your own risk," said Hodges.
