When Will Winter End? Punxsutawney Phil And Buckeye Chuck Cast Predictions

Especially after a fresh wave of winter weather, many Northeast Ohioans are likely looking ahead to spring.

Tuesday marked Groundhog Day (February 2), and, as tradition would have, people turned to famous rodents to predict whether we can expect six more weeks of winter.

Pennsylvania’s Punxsutawney Phil stirred from his slumber at about 7:25 a.m. this morning saw his shadow, indicating a longer winter, CNN reported.

But “Ohio’s prognosticating rodent” begs to differ.

“EARLY SPRING IN OHIO! Buckeye Chuck, Ohio's prognosticating rodent, did NOT see his shadow,” cleveland.com tweeted. “Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of winter, so which groundhog do you think will be right?”

Ohio Magazine broke down “The Legend of Buckeye Chuck” in February 2018, explaining that Charlie Evers, a radio host from Marion, mentioned a groundhog staring back at him from the window while he was on air. Since then, Buckeye Chuck became a local legend.

Buckeye Chuck started as a WMRN staple and went on to become Ohio’s official weather-predicting groundhog, which the Ohio General Assembly confirmed in 1979.

“As a joke on the air, Charlie says, ‘What are we going to name our groundhog for Groundhog Day?’ ” Scott Shawver, Mansfield and Marion senior vice president for programming at iHeartMedia, explained to the magazine in 2018. “We had a contest…It was [originally] just something we did in the studio. We thought it’d be fun if we actually go outside so people could see Buckeye Chuck.”

Now, you can keep up with the public figure on his own Facebook page.

Photo: iHeartMedia