Michigan’s Woody the Woodchuck Predicts Long Winter For 2026

February 2nd is one of the most important unimportant days of the year: Groundhog Day. A day when we supposedly decide whether the insanely frigid winter we've had this year will last another 6 weeks or if we'll have an early spring and warmth will be right around the corner.

Get our free mobile app

Nationwide, people pay attention to Punxsutawney Phil, a groundhog in Pennsylvania that has been making predictions since 1887. His track record isn't great. However, Michigan has its own weather-predicting woodchuck, Woody the Woodchuck, who also been making predictions with a far better record.

She was right last year about an early spring, so what did she predict today?

Remember: If Woody sees her shadow, winter will last six more weeks. If she doesn't see her shadow, there will be an early spring.

Woody's Prediction For 2026

Today at 8:30 a.m., Howell Nature Center hosted a live stream of Woody leaving her little home and seeing her shadow, which means we'll get six more weeks of winter. For comparison, Phil had the same prediction in PA. Not ideal for us Michiganders.

READ MORE: Meet Michigan's Groundhog Woody The Woodchuck

Woody has been making Groundhog Day predictions since 1999 and has a stellar 70% accuracy rate, including last year when she predicted an early spring. Now, Phil has been guessing for many years longer than Woody, but his accuracy is only ~30%, so I'm more inclined to believe Michigan's woodchuck.

But also, all of it's just for fun anyway; only Mother Nature really knows what she's going to do this spring. You can learn more about woodchucks here, thanks to PBS.