Two male groundhogs munch on vegetables at the Chattanooga Arboretum and Nature Center on Friday. The groundhogs will remain at the center because they were injured at some point in their life and are not healthy enough to be released back into the wild.
General Beauregard Lee scampers around his enclosure at the Yellow River Game Ranch in Lilburn, Ga., Sunday, Feb. 2, 2014.Perhaps sympathizing with his fellow Georgians who are days removed from a wintry disaster, Gen. Beauregard Lee awoke from his chambers at the Yellow River Game Ranch near Stone Mountain, Ga., on Sunday and did not see his shadow.
The groundhog, who goes more casually by “Beau,” slept a few minutes late, likely due to the dense fog outdoors. But when he rose with his shadow nowhere in sight, it officially signified — in accordance with popular legend — that the South is in store for an early spring.
Though the accuracy of Beau’s predictions is debated, at least one nationally celebrated rodent forecaster will be right in 2014.
Beau’s northern counterpart, Punxsutawney Phil, of Pennsylvania, foreshadowed six more weeks of winter on Sunday.
Based on the monthly outlook provided by the National Weather Service, Austin said temperatures should remain on a par with their usual February averages, but precipitation is likely to be higher than normal.