Groundhog Day Trivia
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111 free Groundhog Day trivia questions with answers — pop culture quiz, new questions added Oct 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 111 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01On which date is Groundhog Day observed each year?
February 2
Groundhog Day is February 2, the old midpoint of winter between the solstice and the spring equinox, 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
Six more weeks follow a shadow, so it is the sunny morning that brings the bad news: old European lore held that a bright, clear day in early February meant winter would drag on.
Q 03Which immigrant community brought the shadow-watching superstition to America?
The Pennsylvania Dutch
The Pennsylvania Dutch call the day Grundsaudaag, and some Grundsow Lodges still hold the whole ceremony in Pennsylvania German.
Q 04In the German lore that crossed the Atlantic, which animal usually did the shadow-watching?
The badger
The badger (Dachs) was the usual forecaster in German-speaking Europe; settlers in Pennsylvania handed the job to the groundhog, which was plentiful around their new homes.
Q 05Groundhog Day falls on the same date as which Christian feast, whose weather lore it inherited?
Candlemas
Candlemas lore held that a bright, clear feast day meant a second winter was on its way, the same upside-down logic as the groundhog's shadow.
Q 06In what year did the first 'official' Groundhog Day trek to Gobbler's Knob take place?
1887
The first organised trek to Gobbler's Knob came on 2 February 1887; the first known local report of the groundhog's forecast had appeared the year before.
Q 07Clymer Freas, credited as the 'father' of Groundhog Day, held what job in Punxsutawney?
Newspaper city editor
Newspaper city editor Clymer Freas worked at the Punxsutawney Spirit, and it was he who sold a group of local businessmen on making the first trek.
Q 08Phil's full ceremonial title calls him 'Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages' and what else?
Prognosticator of Prognosticators
Prognosticator of Prognosticators comes just before 'Weather Prophet Extraordinary' in Phil's full title; the same boosters crowned Punxsutawney the Weather Capital of the World.
Q 09Punxsutawney has under 6,000 residents; its Groundhog Day crowds have swelled to roughly what size?
40,000
About 40,000 is the high mark reported for Gobbler's Knob, several times the town's population; before the 1993 film made the ritual famous, the usual turnout was nearer 2,000.
Q 10Where does Phil live for the rest of the year when he is not forecasting?
The town's Memorial Library
The town's Memorial Library houses Phil's climate-controlled burrow, where passers-by can watch him through a window; a second home on Gobbler's Knob was planned after his family grew in 2024.
Q 11What is the name of Punxsutawney Phil's mate?
Phyllis
Phyllis startled the club in 2024 by giving birth to two pups; its president admitted they had never expected groundhogs to breed in captivity.
Q 12What is the top-hatted group that runs the Punxsutawney ceremony called?
The Inner Circle
The Inner Circle, in top hats and tuxedos, does more than run the ceremony: its members also plan the town's festivities and feed and care for Phil all year.
Q 13In what language does Phil supposedly deliver his forecast to the Punxsutawney club's president?
Groundhogese
Groundhogese is understood only by the club's president, which conveniently makes his translation of the forecast impossible to check.
Q 21Which New York City mayor was bitten by Staten Island Chuck?
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg was bitten by Chuck at the 2009 Staten Island Zoo ceremony; fearing a repeat, the zoo later secretly swapped in a female stand-in named Charlotte.
Q 22Which New York City mayor famously dropped the groundhog Charlotte during the 2014 ceremony?
Bill de Blasio
Bill de Blasio lost his grip on Charlotte at the 2014 Staten Island Zoo ceremony; she died a week later, and though the zoo called the fall an unlikely cause, he watched the next year's event from a safe distance.
Q 23Which Wisconsin city calls itself the 'Groundhog Capital of the World'?
Sun Prairie
Q 14What object supposedly gives the Punxsutawney club's president the power to understand Phil?
An ancient acacia wood cane
An ancient acacia wood cane, held by the club president, is said to let him understand Phil; the forecast he 'hears' is then read out to the crowd from a scroll.
Q 15Per club legend, what drink has kept the same Phil alive since the 1880s?
The Elixir of Life
The Elixir of Life, sipped at the club's annual Groundhog Picnic, is the official reason one Phil has lasted since the 1880s; a real groundhog lives only a few years in the wild.
Q 16When wild groundhogs surface briefly in midwinter, what are they looking for?
Future mates
Future mates: males leave their burrows in February to find where females are hibernating and bond with them, then go back to sleep until mating starts in March.
Q 17What were Phil's first pups named in 2024?
Sunny and Shadow
Sunny and Shadow were born in March 2024, the first pups in the event's 138 years; the growing family prompted plans for a second home on Gobbler's Knob.
Q 18What forced Punxsutawney's Groundhog Day ceremony behind closed doors for the first time in its history?
COVID-19 restrictions
COVID-19 restrictions kept the public off Gobbler's Knob in 2021; Phil's forecast was livestreamed to fans who would normally have stood there.
Q 19In 1995 Phil was flown to Chicago to appear on which national TV programme?
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show had Phil as an afternoon guest in 1995, hours after he had seen no shadow and called an early spring.
Q 20Gus, Pennsylvania's 'second most famous groundhog', is whose mascot?
The lottery
The lottery introduced Gus in its scratch-off adverts in 2004, retired him in 2012 and brought him back in 2015 after a break of nearly four years.
Sun Prairie has used the title since the 1950s, in a long-running rivalry with Punxsutawney, and backs it with its own forecaster, Jimmy the Groundhog.
Q 24In 2015 Jimmy the Groundhog went viral for doing what to a Wisconsin mayor during the ceremony?
Biting his ear
Biting his ear earned Jimmy the Groundhog worldwide headlines in 2015; the next day the mayor issued a proclamation absolving him of any wrongdoing.
Q 25What is unusual about Potomac Phil, who forecasts at Washington DC's Dupont Circle event?
He is a taxidermied groundhog
He is a taxidermied groundhog: Potomac Phil 'whispers' his forecast to his handlers at Dupont Circle, in a send-up of the Punxsutawney ritual.
Q 26Shubenacadie Sam, who makes North America's first Groundhog Day forecast each year, lives in which Canadian province?
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia's Atlantic time zone puts Shubenacadie Sam an hour ahead of the famous forecasters to the west, so his 8 a.m. verdict at the provincial wildlife park comes first.
Q 27What made Ontario's Wiarton Willie stand out from other famous forecasting groundhogs for decades?
His albino coat
His albino coat was Wiarton Willie's trademark until 2022, when a brown groundhog took over the role for the first time.
Q 28Fred la marmotte, found dead on Groundhog Day 2023, represented which Canadian province?
Quebec
Quebec's Fred la marmotte forecast from Val-d'Espoir in the Gaspé; when he was found dead in 2023, a child holding a stuffed toy groundhog delivered the prediction instead.
Q 29Alberta's Groundhog Day forecaster Balzac Billy is what, exactly?
A person in a costume
A person in a costume plays Balzac Billy because real groundhogs are not found in southern Alberta, so the hamlet near Calgary makes do with a man-sized mascot.
Q 30A 2021 study found 33 forecasting groundhogs' predictions were what?
Pure chance
Pure chance: across 530 forecasts the groundhogs called the start of spring correctly exactly 50% of the time, judged against the first blooms of a spring wildflower.