On a gloomy and slushy morning, Mayor Bloomberg trudged out to the Staten Island Zoo to engage in the annual puffed-up Grounghog’s Day ritual of determining whether the groundhog would see his shadow, which would be the harbinger of a longer winter.

Since there was no sun, and that there was a pre-printed banner ready to unfurl declaring spring would come early, there wasn’t much drama.

The only tension came when the mayor picked up Staten Island Chuck with his gloved hands.

Unlike two years ago, the critter didn’t take a bite.

Bloomberg made it clear this game was fixed.

“I want you all to look up. Does anyone see blue?” he asked. “Kind of hard to get a shadow if you don’t see. No. 2, the Staten Island Zoo is sort of down in a valley. The sun doesn’t come up until noon. It’s 7:30 in the morning. We have that going for us as well.”

“And the third thing, what mayor in the world would predict a long wet winter?”

As Bloomberg predicted, there was no shadow.

A hardy crowd of about 50 witnessed the great moment.

Sources said the mayor’s office got a call later from CNN, which hadn’t sent a crew and was anxious to find out if the groundhog has seen his shadow.

Staten Island Chuck wasn’t the only groundhog to predict and early spring this morning.

Pennsylvania groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, also saw no shadow during his 125th appearance on Groundhog Day.