Punxsutawney Phil Sees His Shadow, Predicting Six More Weeks of Winter

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, predicting six more weeks of winter during the annual Groundhog Day event in Western Pennsylvania Sunday (February 2) morning.

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow Sunday, predicting six more weeks of winter during the annual Groundhog Day event in Western Pennsylvania.

The weather predicting groundhog was summoned from his tree stump in front of a crowd of thousands at Gobbler's Knob in Western Pennsylvania just before dawn. According to folklore, six more weeks of winter will take place if the groundhog sees his shadow, while spring will come early if he doesn't.

The annual event in Punxsutawney, which is located about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, stemmed from a German legend based on a groundhog.

Punxsutawney Phil has reportedly predicted an extended winter more than 100 times, according to records that date back to 1887. Organizers specified that 10 years were lost because no records were kept at the time.

However, Phil is often wrong, with a reported 40% accuracy rate within the past decade, according to data shared by the Stormfax Weather Almanac.

"Somehow, according to our experts ... the groundhog has been less accurate than a coin flip over the past ten years," the Stormfax Weather Almanac said in an email to USA TODAY.