Groundhog Day: Punxsutawney Phil predicts early spring – will he be right?

Mammal made his prediction at annual Pennsylvania celebration, but estimates have shown he’s only accurate 40% of the time

Punxsutawney Phil’s winter weather forecast was announced shortly after sunrise on Friday – and the best known Groundhog Day animal predicted an early spring this year.

Global heating amid the climate crisis? The groundhog himself doesn’t speak, obviously, so that’s for us humans to determine. But CNN quickly pointed out that the woodchuck’s record is unreliable and that Punxsutawney Phil has only been correct in his forecast 39% of the time since the abstruse ritual began in 1887.