How Accurate Is the Ground Hog?
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — For more than 130 years Punxatawney Phil has been a celebrity meteorologist, predicting whether spring will come early or send us into 6 more weeks of winter based on his shadow. But, how accurate is the most famous groundhog?
Over the last 29 years, Phil has correctly guessed whether we would have an above or below average last few weeks less than 39% of the time for the U.S. as a whole.
However,Β he has done a little bit better for Charlotte. The average temperature in Charlotte for the month of February is 44.2 degrees. It’s about six degrees warmer in March at 51.5 degrees. Phil has correctly guessed the change of weather in the Queen City 17 out of the last 29 years – giving him an accuracy of 58.6%. In recent years, he’s done a little better with a correct prediction of 50% since 2012.
The real MVP in the world of groundhog forecasters is our very own Queen Charlotte at the Discovery Place in Uptown. She has accurately predicted whether or not we would have 6 more weeks of winter 66.7% of the time since 2012 – and has a 4 year streak of a correct prediction after accurately predicting the early spring we would have last year.
