Each year, Punxsutawney Phil, the Pennsylvania groundhog, predicts the weather for the rest of the winter. If he sees his shadow, we will get six more weeks of winter. If he doesn’t see his shadow, we will get an early spring. This year, Punxsutawny Phil did not see his shadow on Groundhog Day so his prediction is an early spring. But what if Phil or one of his relatives made the prediction in Grand Junction instead?Groundhogs are not commonly found in western Colorado and the next closest thing I could think of was a prairie dog but they are keeping to their burrows thanks to the cold winter.  However, I was able to find a substitute to test what would happen if the groundhog did make an appearance here.

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Ed Chandler, KOOL 107.9

"Punxsutawn-e Phil", the 'Beanie Babies' groundhog saw his shadow, predicting six more weeks of winter for western Colorado.

According to an article in Earthsky, the real Punxsutawney Phil has seen his shadow 110 out of 116 times and has been accurate only 39% of the time proving Groundhog Day is more about fun than actual science. So, is it an early spring or more winter? Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

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