HOWELL, Mich — The most famous groundhog in the world appeared before a massive crowd in Punxsutawney, PA Friday morning to give his prediction of an early spring.
But is the Groundhog's Day icon Punxsutawney Phil right in his prediction? Michigan's own weather-predicting rodent says otherwise.
This morning, Woody the Woodchuck appeared before a much more modest crowd in Howell, Michigan, and gave a different prediction for the change in seasons.
Woody doesn't care whether or not she sees her shadow, this woodchuck makes her predictions based on whether or not she stays outside of her house for more than 30 seconds.
Shortly after dawn on Friday, a worker at the Howell Nature Center opened the door to Woody's House, and after just a few moments she emerged. But she didn't hang out for long and turned right back around and went back to bed, signaling the prediction of six more weeks of winter.
The Howell Nature Center says that Woody first came to their wildlife rehabilitation center in 1998 and has been making her predictions on Groundhog Day since 1999. She became domesticated through the rehabilitation process early in her life, which never allowed for the nature center to release her back into the wild.
The weather-predicting woodchuck loves eating corn and watermelon, making sure her nest is full of bedding material, but hates being woken up in the morning (which may be a reason for the more winter prediction), according to the Howell Nature Center.
The rehabilitation center claims that she has had nearly a 70% accuracy rate for her predictions. By comparison, ABC News has given Punxsutawney Phil only a 30% accuracy rate over the last 10 years.
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