Groundhog looking for his shadow (Photo by Archie Carpenter/Getty Images)
LILBURN, Ga. (AP) — Georgia’s famed groundhog, Gen. Beauregard Lee, has spotted his shadow — indicating we’re in for a longer winter.
Lee woke to the ringing of an antique bell Saturday and waddled out of his home at the Yellow River Game Ranch in Lilburn. Ranch employee Mary Jackson says about 600 onlookers braved a frigid morning to await his Groundhog Day prediction.
Lore holds that if a groundhog sees its shadow on Feb. 2, winter will drag on for another six weeks. Gen. Lee’s handlers say he’s been proven right about 94 percent of the time.
Gen. Lee’s forecast for more chilly weather puts him at odds with his weather-predicting counterpart to the North — Pennsylvania’s Punxsutawney Phil.
Phil didn’t see his shadow Saturday, calling for an early spring.
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