AUSTIN, Texas — With Punxsutawney Phil preparing to predict the weather on Sunday, we wanted to answer some popular questions about Phil himself along with groundhogs in Texas.
The tradition of using a groundhog to predict the weather dates back to Germany when there was a belief that if a hedgehog saw its shadow on Candlemas day, there would be six more weeks of winter.
German immigrants continued that tradition in Pennsylvania but swapped the hedgehog for a groundhog. Over time, the tradition changed in some parts of the country. Texas has Bee Cave Bob, an armadillo, and Big Al the alligator in Beaumont. Florida also has their “mollusk meteorologist.”
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Punxsutawney Phil is only right about 35% of the time, falling well behind his counterpart, Staten Island Chuck, who’s right about 85% of the time.
Meanwhile, PETA has requested to end the tradition of weather-prognosticating animals by replacing Phil with a weather reveal cake.
Are there groundhogs in Texas?
The short answer is no. Groundhogs are not native to Texas and are usually only spotted in eastern and central parts of the United States.
Groundhogs are also known as woodchucks because they get their name from the Algonquian word “wuchak” which means “digger.” According to the Texas Tech Natural Science Research Laboratory, a woodchuck was collected from Tarrant County in North Texas back in 1964.
While it’s unclear how the woodchuck got to Texas, it’s now on display at the Fort Worth Museum of Science.