Hapless Time Warner customer Chuck. (Photograph from GregTtheFratBoy)
This Sunday, February 2nd, Groundhog Day, our new Mayor Bill de Blasio will meet Staten Island Chuck, our old feisty groundhog. Will Chuck bite the Mayor like he did Bloomberg? Will he give him some side eye? Will he nuzzle his nose into face and give him groundhog kisses? Will he hug him? Or will he throw him some shade? Will he throw us all some shade? These are the big questions come Sunday: will Bill and Chuck get along, and will a shadow cast six more weeks of polar vortexes upon us?
According to the Staten Island Zoo, Chuck will emerge from hibernation around 7:30 a.m., and either predict Spring, staying outside and abandoning his burrow, or get scared by his shadow and run back in. They note Chuck, who has been at this since 1981, has an 80% accuracy rate at predicting the weather.
The event is open to the anyone who wants to take a ferry to Staten Island before the sun rises. And following the ceremony, families may have Breakfast with Chuck... who presumably will be forced back out of his burrow for your entertainment.
