80 free Groundhog Day trivia questions with answers — pop culture quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
72 free Groundhog Day trivia questions with answers. Groundhog Day is the strangest holiday on the calendar: a rodent in Pennsylvania is consulted about the weather by men in top hats, and tens of thousands of people show up before dawn to watch. This quiz covers the whole story, from the Candlemas badger lore German immigrants carried across the Atlantic, to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club and its Inner Circle, to the rival forecasters across North America (some of them stuffed, one of them a man in a costume). There is a run of questions on the real animal too, and a big block on the 1993 Bill Murray film and its stage musical. It suits a February trivia night, a classroom, or anyone who watched the movie for the fortieth time and wants to know what happened behind the camera. Easy questions cover the basics; the hard ones dig into dates, names and numbers. Every answer has been checked against a primary source, so you can trust the accuracy figures even if you should not trust the groundhog.
30 of 80 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01On which date is Groundhog Day observed each year?
February 2
The date lines up with the old midpoint of winter, which is why so many cultures watched the weather that morning.
Q 02According to the legend, how many more weeks of winter follow if the groundhog sees its shadow?
Six
The German version of the lore only promised four extra weeks; the Pennsylvanians stretched it.
Q 03Which immigrant community brought the shadow-watching superstition to America?
The Pennsylvania Dutch
In their dialect the day is Grundsaudaag, and some Grundsow Lodges still hold the whole ceremony in Pennsylvania German.
Q 04In the German lore that crossed the Atlantic, which animal originally did the shadow-watching?
The badger
Germans called it Dachstag; before that the forecasting animal had been a much larger hibernator, until it grew scarce.
Q 05Groundhog Day falls on the same date as which Christian feast, whose weather lore it inherited?
Candlemas
An old Scots couplet sums up the older belief: 'If Candlemas is fair and clear / There'll be twa winters in the year.'
Q 06The earliest known written mention of Groundhog Day is a Pennsylvania diary entry from which year?
1840
Diarist James L. Morris of Morgantown was a Welshman commenting on the customs of his German-stock neighbours.
Q 07In what year did the first 'official' Groundhog Day trek to Gobbler's Knob take place?
1887
The Punxsutawney Spirit had reported the beast's forecast a year earlier, but the first organised trip to the Knob came twelve months later.
Q 08Clymer Freas, credited as the 'father' of Groundhog Day, held what job in Punxsutawney?
Newspaper city editor
Freas worked at the Punxsutawney Spirit, the paper that printed the first known news report of the town's observance in 1886.
Q 09The Punxsutawney groundhog was named Phil in 1961. Who is he thought to be named after?
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
The Groundhog Club has trademarked the name, so no business can use 'Punxsutawney Phil' without permission.
Q 10Crowds at the Punxsutawney celebration can reach roughly what size?
40,000
That is nearly eight times the town's year-round population of 5,769 as of the 2020 census.
Q 11Where does Phil live for the rest of the year when he is not forecasting?
The town's Memorial Library
He shares a climate-controlled enclosure there with his mate, and visitors can see them through a window year-round.
Q 12What is the name of Punxsutawney Phil's mate?
Phyllis
In March 2024 the club announced the pair had produced two babies, the first time that had happened in the event's history.
Q 13What is the top-hatted group that runs the Punxsutawney ceremony called?
The Inner Circle
Its vice president prepares two scrolls in advance, one for early spring and one for a longer winter.
Q 21In 1995 Phil flew to Chicago to appear on which TV programme?
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The episode aired on Groundhog Day itself, giving Phil a national audience for once.
Q 22What is the name of the Pennsylvania Lottery's groundhog mascot?
Gus
The 'second most famous' line is a deliberate nod of deference to Phil.
Q 23Nova Scotia's Shubenacadie Sam makes the first Groundhog Day prediction in North America each year. Why?
Its Atlantic time zone
Sam has been forecasting at Shubenacadie Wildlife Park since 1987, and a 2021 study rated him more accurate than Phil.
Q 14In what language does Phil supposedly deliver his forecast to the club president?
Groundhogese
Only the current president can understand it, which conveniently makes the translation impossible to fact-check.
Q 15What object supposedly gives the club president the power to understand Phil?
An ancient acacia wood cane
The club also keeps its criteria for spring versus winter a trade secret and scripts the ceremony in advance.
Q 16The club says one Phil has forecast since the 1880s. What keeps him alive, per legend?
The Elixir of Life
The drink, also called groundhog punch, is administered at the club's Groundhog Picnic each autumn.
Q 17Which publication's tally, as of 2023, put Phil's accuracy at 39 percent?
Stormfax Almanac
Weather Underground's Tim Roche was harsher still, scoring Phil at 36 percent between 1969 and 2016.
Q 18What accuracy rate does the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club itself claim for Phil?
100%
Independent estimates put the real figure between 35 and 41 percent, so a coin flip would beat him.
Q 19Why was the 2021 Punxsutawney ceremony held behind closed doors for the first time?
COVID-19 restrictions
The show still went on: Phil's forecast was livestreamed to fans who would normally have stood on the Knob.
Q 20During the 2024 ceremony, Governor Josh Shapiro gave Phil which title?
State meteorologist
Shapiro is one of three sitting Pennsylvania governors to attend, after Ed Rendell in 2003 and Tom Corbett in 2012.
Q 24Which New York City mayor was bitten by Staten Island Chuck in 2009?
Michael Bloomberg
Zoo officials quietly replaced Chuck with his daughter Charlotte afterwards.
Q 25Which New York City mayor famously dropped the groundhog Charlotte during the 2014 ceremony?
Bill de Blasio
Charlotte died a week later, and although the zoo said the fall was unlikely to blame, the mayor never took part again.
Q 26Which Wisconsin city calls itself the 'Groundhog Capital of the World'?
Sun Prairie
The title was a retort to a 1952 Punxsutawney Spirit article that called the place a 'remote two cow village buried somewhere in the wilderness'.
Q 27In 2015 Jimmy the Groundhog went viral for doing what to a Wisconsin mayor on stage?
Biting his ear
A mayoral proclamation the next day formally absolved Jimmy XI of any wrongdoing.
Q 28What is unusual about Potomac Phil, who forecasts at Washington DC's Dupont Circle event?
He is a taxidermied groundhog
In 2019 he broke with Punxsutawney and also predicted two more years of political insanity.
Q 29Buffalo Bert, added to Buffalo's festivities in 2014, is a running joke because he always does what?
Predicts a longer winter
The Irish pub that hosts him boasts that this gives Bert a perfect accuracy record.
Q 30Guilford, Connecticut police issued a joke warrant for Chuckles the groundhog in 2024 under what name?
Chuck the Liar
Chuckles has forecast at Manchester's Lutz Children's Museum since 1968 and 'turned himself in' as a show of good will.