Groundhogs have been “predicting” the weather in the U.S. for about 140 years, with the modern Groundhog Day tradition starting in the late 1880s and continuing every year since.

Quick Scoop: How long has the groundhog been predicting weather?

  • The custom comes from German weather lore where a badger (not a groundhog) was believed to forecast the end of winter on February 2, Candlemas.
  • German immigrants brought this idea to Pennsylvania in the late 19th century and swapped in a local animal: the groundhog.
  • Organized Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, with Punxsutawney Phil as the star, dates back to the late 1880s, making the tradition roughly 135–140 years old as of the mid‑2020s.
  • The event has taken place almost every year since, with rare interruptions (for example, 1943 in Punxsutawney due to World War II).

So, in simple terms: groundhogs have been “predicting” the weather in a formal, named tradition for around a century and a half, rooted in much older European superstition rather than science.

TL;DR: The groundhog weather‑prediction tradition in the U.S. started in Pennsylvania in the late 1880s and has been going for about 140 years, adapted from older German Candlemas animal‑forecast lore.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.