Groundhog Day 2025: Watch Punxsutawney Phil's prediction from Georgia

People across the country watched a small town in Pennsylvania this Sunday to see if Punxsutawney Phil would spot his shadow.

Members of the family of famous groundhogs have been delighting crowds for more than a century.

On Groundhog Day 2025, Phil's handlers will announce whether he has seen his own shadow and predict either six more weeks of winter or early spring.

Groundhog handler AJ Derume holds Punxsutawney Phil, who saw his shadow, predicting late spring during the 136th annual Groundhog Day festivities on Feb. 2, 2022, in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)

What time will Punxsutawney Phil's prediction happen?

Phil emerged around sunrise, at 7:25 a.m. on Sunday, February 2.

The festivities started much earlier in Gobblers Knob, which had a day filled with events starting at 4 a.m. and lasting through the afternoon.

SEE MORE: Georgia Groundhog Day Celebration: Gen. Beauregard Lee to make his prediction

How to watch the Groundhog Day celebration

What you can do:

You can watch the big reveal on the FOX LOCAL App or live on the FOX 5 Atlanta YouTube or Facebook pages. 

SEE MORE: Could weather affect General Beauregard Lee's prediction?

Groundhog Day history

Big picture view:

Groundhog Day traces its roots to ancient Celtic traditions, where Imbolc marked the midway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. Early Christians celebrated Candlemas around the same time, and German immigrants brought the custom of weather-forecasting animals to America, swapping European hedgehogs and badgers for the native groundhog.

Members of Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, organized in 1899, care for Phil at a customized space beside Punxsutawney Memorial Library — where there’s a window with a view into the creature’s burrow.

Georgia has its own groundhog who specializes in making weather predictions. General Beauregard "Beau" Lee will make his prediction as sunrise as well from his home at "Weathering Heights" at the Dauset Trails Nature Center in Jackson.

Which groundhog is more accurate?

By the numbers:

According to a 2022 study by FiveThirtyEight.com, Beau boasts a 63% accuracy rate for predictions from 2012 to 2021, outshining Phil’s 45.5%. The Dauset Trails Nature Center claims Beau’s accuracy is even higher, somewhere in the 90% range.

About 79% of the time, Phil sees his shadow, indicating more winter. However, Phil’s winter prognostications have only been right about 39% of the time, according to the Stormfax Almanac.

Last year, both Phil and Beau predicted an early spring.

The Source: Information for this story came from previous FOX 5 reporting, a story by Fox Weather's Emilee Speck, and the Associated Press.

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