Buckeye Chuck Prediction History

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Historical Reference

The Buckeye Chuck Prediction Record

Buckeye Chuck has been Ohio's official weather-predicting groundhog since 1979. The first official forecast in the surviving researched record is from 1980. This page preserves the most accurate year-by-year prediction log currently available to the WMRN Radio History Archive.

47Official Groundhog Days
43Recorded Predictions
31Early Springs
12Longer Winters
4Unresolved Years

The Record

What the surviving record shows

From 1980 through 2026, 43 Buckeye Chuck forecasts are presently documented: 31 early-spring predictions and 12 predictions of six more weeks of winter.

Four official-era years remain unresolved: 1982, 1985, 1992, and 1995. The Archive does not assign a prediction to those years without stronger evidence.

Standardized NOAA Comparison

Buckeye Chuck vs. Punxsutawney Phil

Buckeye Chuck60%accuracy
Punxsutawney Phil35%accuracy

Chuck leads by 25 percentage points in NOAA's February 2, 2026 analysis covering 2006–2025.

Read NOAA's methodology and rankings.

1980–2026

Year-by-Year Prediction Log

In Groundhog Day tradition, seeing a shadow means six more weeks of winter; no shadow means an early spring. Missing years are left unresolved rather than inferred.

Early Spring = No shadow
Longer Winter = Saw shadow
Unresolved = No verified prediction
Buckeye Chuck official-era prediction record, 1980–2026
Year Prediction Shadow Record Status
2026 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
2025 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
2024 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
2023 Six More Weeks of Winter Saw shadow Recorded
2022 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
2021 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
2020 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
2019 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
2018 Six More Weeks of Winter Saw shadow Recorded
2017 Six More Weeks of Winter Saw shadow Recorded
2016 Six More Weeks of Winter Saw shadow Recorded
2015 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
2014 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
2013 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
2012 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
2011 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
2010 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
2009 Six More Weeks of Winter Saw shadow Recorded
2008 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
2007 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
2006 Six More Weeks of Winter Saw shadow Recorded
2005 Six More Weeks of Winter Saw shadow Recorded
2004 Six More Weeks of Winter Saw shadow Recorded
2003 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
2002 Six More Weeks of Winter Saw shadow Recorded
2001 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
2000 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
1999 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
1998 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
1997 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
1996 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
1995 Unrecorded Unknown Unresolved
1994 Six More Weeks of Winter Saw shadow Recorded
1993 Six More Weeks of Winter Saw shadow Recorded
1992 Unrecorded Unknown Unresolved
1991 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
1990 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
1989 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
1988 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
1987 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
1986 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
1985 Unrecorded Unknown Unresolved
1984 Six More Weeks of Winter Saw shadow Recorded
1983 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
1982 Unrecorded Unknown Unresolved
1981 Early Spring No shadow Recorded
1980 Early Spring No shadow Recorded

Open Research

Four years still need documentation

1982, 1985, 1992, and 1995 remain unrecorded in the best-supported WMRN-aligned historical record currently available.

Some secondary internet sources assign predictions to several of these years, but the WMRN Radio History Archive is retaining them as unresolved until sufficient primary-source documentation—such as contemporary newspaper coverage, WMRN audio, scripts, photographs, or station records—is located.

About the Record

Research Notes and Methodology

Ohio designated Buckeye Chuck as its official weather-predicting groundhog in 1979. Paul James has described the surviving official record as beginning with the 1980 forecast and has noted that earlier Charlie Evers-era Buckeye Chuck forecasts existed before the official designation but are not part of the documented official series presented here.

This log distinguishes between recorded and unresolved predictions. The Archive's goal is to preserve a traceable historical record and update it as better evidence becomes available.

The approximately 71% historical success figure cited in WMRN-related research is based on a different record and methodology than NOAA's standardized 2006–2025 comparison, so the two figures should not be treated as directly interchangeable.

Documentation

Sources