Southern Groundhog Predicts Early Spring, Too

LILBURN, GA -- General Beau Lee agrees with his Pennsylvanian counterpart -- spring is on the way.

For the 37th year, the groundhog who lives at Yellow River Game Ranch in Georgia’s Gwinnett County emerged from his home -- a white-columned Southern mansion -- to try to predict the coming weeks’ weather Tuesday morning.

And, this year, officials at the ranch say he didn’t see his shadow. According to Groundhog Day lore, that means an early spring is coming.

Beau emerged Tuesday morning at 7:34 a.m. to unseasonably warm temperatures of 56 degrees, ranch officials said.

Per tradition, he was coaxed out with scattered, smothered and covered hashbrowns from Waffle House, the breakfast-food chain founded in nearby Avondale Estates and headquartered in neighboring Norcross.

And with that, Beau’s only work day of the year was complete.

The rest of the year, the groundhog resides quietly along with 600 other animals and birds indigenous to Georgia at the ranch. The 24-acre preserve is in its 54th year.

The online truth-seekers at Politifact have ruled it “mostly true” that Beau has a better record of predicting the weather than Punxsutawney Phil. And he holds an honorary doctorate in weather prognostication from the University of Georgia.

(Photos courtesy Yellow River Game Ranch)