Staten Island Chuck, also referred to more formally as Charles G. Hogg, is a groundhog who resided in the Staten Island Zoo in Staten Island, New York City. He serves as the official groundhog

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, who predicts the duration of winter each February 2 on

Groundhog Day Groundhog Day (, , , ; Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia: Daks Day) is a tradition observed regionally in the United States and Canada on February 2 of every year. It derives from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if ...

. The tradition dates back to 1981. He makes the prediction based on whether or not he sees his shadow during the ceremony between 7:00 A.M. and 7:30 A.M. on Groundhog Day. The ceremony at the zoo is sometimes attended and officiated by the

Mayor of New York City The mayor of New York City, officially mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The Mayoralty in the United States, mayor's office administers all ...

. Chuck's prediction for 2025 was early spring, opposite the prediction made by Punxsutawney Phil.

Notable moments

Staten Island Chuck bit New York City Mayor

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman and politician. He is the majority owner and co-founder of Bloomberg L.P., and was its CEO from 1981 to 2001 and again from 2014 to 2023. He served as the 108th mayo ...

in 2009. Over his 12 years as mayor, Bloomberg attended 7 of 12 ceremonies. Chuck was later replaced by his granddaughter, Charlotte, for the first Groundhog Day ceremony held during the mayoralty of

Bill de Blasio Bill de Blasio (; born Warren Wilhelm Jr., May 8, 1961; later Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm) is an American politician who was the List of mayors of New York City, 109th mayor of New York City, mayor of New York City from 2014 to 2021. A member of t ...

. During that ceremony held on February 2, 2014, de Blasio dropped Charlotte onto the ground in front of "shocked schoolchildren". Charlotte died on February 9, 2014, although the Staten Island Zoo did not make this fact public until several months later. According to the ''New York Post'', a necropsy attributed Charlotte's death to "acute internal injuries" consistent with a fall. Despite accusations of a coverup and reports that De Blasio had killed the groundhog, the zoo initially claimed that the animal died of natural causes, and later took the position that it was "unlikely" that Charlotte's death was caused by the fall. Chuck's daughter, Charlotte Jr., served as a stand-in for him at Groundhog Day 2015. On February 2, 2015, this female "Staten Island Chuck" walked out of a hutch that an elevator had lifted onto the stage of a portable

Plexiglas Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is a synthetic polymer derived from methyl methacrylate. It is a transparent thermoplastic, used as an engineering plastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and bra ...

habitat, while de Blasio watched from six feet (1.8 m) away. De Blasio did not attend the 2016 ceremonies, as he was in Iowa campaigning for Hillary Clinton's Presidential bid;

Lieutenant Governor of New York The lieutenant governor of New York is a Constitution of New York, constitutional office in the executive branch of the Government of the State of New York. It is the second highest-ranking official in state government. The lieutenant governo ...

Kathy Hochul officiated the groundhog ceremony in de Blasio's stead. He likewise did not attend the ceremony from 2017 to 2019, and in 2020 confirmed that he has no plans to ever return to the Groundhog Day Ceremony at the Staten Island Zoo: "I tried it, it didn't end well, I won't be back," de Blasio said. In 2017, Staten Island Chuck made his publication debut in the children's book ''Groundhog Chuck Builds a Weather Station''. Authored by known animal lover and supporter of the outdoors, Staten Island's Deputy Borough President Ed Burke, the book follows Chuck and his zoo friends on an adventure to ensure the right weather forecast is always made.

Past predictions

The Staten Island Zoo has claimed that Chuck correctly predicted the duration of winter 26 out of 32 years as of 2013, an 82% success rate. Early spring is defined as a spring in which a majority of days between Groundhog Day and the March

equinox A solar equinox is a moment in time when the Sun appears directly above the equator, rather than to its north or south. On the day of the equinox, the Sun appears to rise directly east and set directly west. This occurs twice each year, arou ...

have a high temperature of over .

References

External links

The Staten Island Zoo where Chuck resides

{{Groundhog Day Individual groundhogs Staten Island Holiday characters Oracular animals Individual animals in the United States Groundhog Day Recurring events established in 1981