Skip to footer

Punxsutawney Phil has competitors: Chuck and Jimmy

Punxsutawney Phil no longer has a Groundhog Day forecasting monopoly. What do Buckeye Chuck, Staten Island Chuck, and Jimmy the Groundhog say about winter?

  • By Staff Associated Press

| Marion, Ohio and Sun Prairie, Wisc.

Ohio's weather forecasting groundhog Buckeye Chuck says spring will be here soon.

Amid a steady snowfall Sunday morning, Buckeye Chuck predicted the end of winter after he did not see his shadow.

According to The Marion Star, Paul James with WMRN radio says Buckeye Chuck is right "about 70 percent of the time."

Pennsylvania's better-known Punxsutawney Phil disagreed with Chuck's forecast. He saw his shadow, forecasting six more weeks of winter.

More than 150 attended the Marion Groundhog Day ceremony in north-central Ohio.

Legend has it that if the furry rodent sees his shadow on Feb. 2, winter will last another month-and-a-half. If he doesn't see it, spring will come early.

Meanwhile, in Sun Prairie, Wisc. Jimmy the Groundhog agrees with his Pennsylvania cousin: Jimmy saw his shadow Sunday. And, according to legend, that means that there will be six more weeks of winter.

Sun Prairie Mayor John Murray delivered the news at the annual Groundhog Day event. And State Rep. Gary Hebl, D-Sun Prairie, read a proclamation of Groundhog Day from Gov. Scott Walker.

And in Staten Island, N.Y., "Staten Island Chuck" also predicted six more weeks of winter,

As of Monday, it looks like Phil, Staten Island Chuck, and Jimmy got it right.

All public schools in the School District of Philadelphia are closed Monday due to the winter storm expected to bring a mixture of rain, sleet, freezing rain and snow to much of the commonwealth.

A day after Punxsutawney Phil forecast six more weeks of winter, forecasters expect 4 to 8 inches for parts of southeastern Pennsylvania including Philadelphia, 5 to 8 inches in central Pennsylvania, and 6 to 9 inches in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Nonessential employees under the governor's jurisdiction in Harrisburg, Philadelphia and Reading are being allowed to report up to three hours after their normal starting time.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Punxsutawney Phil has competitors: Chuck and Jimmy
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2014/0203/Punxsutawney-Phil-has-competitors-Chuck-and-Jimmy
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe