What is the name of Ohio's official weather-predicting groundhog?

Ohio’s official weather-predicting groundhog is named Buckeye Chuck. He is associated with Marion, Ohio, where the state’s Groundhog Day tradition developed around an animal representing Ohio’s buckeye nickname.

Buckeye Chuck’s name combines “Buckeye,” the familiar nickname for Ohio and a reference to the state tree, with “Chuck,” a common informal name for a groundhog. Each February 2, he is presented as Ohio’s counterpart to Pennsylvania’s better-known Punxsutawney Phil.

The ceremony follows the familiar Groundhog Day legend: if the groundhog sees its shadow, winter is said to continue for six more weeks; if not, spring is expected early. This is folklore rather than a scientifically reliable forecast. Buckeye Chuck is also easy to confuse with other regional groundhogs, including Phil in Pennsylvania and Staten Island Chuck in New York, but Buckeye Chuck is the Ohio figure.