Phil, the weather-predicting groundhog, is a lie

Every year on Feb. 2, Groundhog Day is celebrated. The annual tradition for residents of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania has been happening since the late 1800s. This year Phil has predicted six more weeks of winter weather.

According to the famous tradition, if Phil the groundhog sees his shadow he will retreat to his hole and there will be six more weeks of winter weather. If he emerges and doesn’t see his shadow, then nice weather is just around the corner.

This year, I learned there is more than one groundhog. While Phil is the most well-known. Other groundhogs have tried to steal his spotlight. Alabama has Birmingham Bill, Staten Island has Chuck and Wisconsin has Jimmy the Groundhog. Sadly, Milltown Mel, New Jersey’s weather-predicting rodent died just before Groundhog Day this year.

But despite it’s seemingly adorable tradition, did you know Groundhog Day has been filled with rodent treachery and schemes?

As most people know, groundhogs cannot predict the weather. In fact, the NOAA compared Phil’s predictions from recent years, and he was only 40% accurate in his predictions. He has been lying to us the whole time.

According to the “Inner Circle,” Punxsutawney residents who are a part of the Groundhog Club, there has only been one Phil. They say they give him a magic elixir to keep him alive during a festival in Punxsutawney during the warmer seasons. But if it is the same groundhog, that would mean Phil is over 135 years old since Phil has been in the business of predicting weather since the 1880s.

This is impossible because there are no magic elixirs and groundhogs, at most, live to be 14. There is no way Phill has been the same groundhog this whole time.

Not to mention, the president of the Inner Circle is the only one to understand Phil. Who is to say he is telling the truth of what Phil knows about the weather?

It isn’t just Phil who has a habit of scheming and treachery. Chuck from Staten Island has a bad history. In 2009 he bit the then-mayor Bloomberg at the time. In 2014, Chuck passed on. According to reports from the zoo he resided in, Chuck died from internal injuries he sustained after being dropped by de Blasio, another mayor in New York. It isn’t just the rodents who scheme. Somehow these groundhogs have convinced themselves to go along with their lies.

The point is, Groundhog Day is a farce.