Groundhog Day 2023: Did the groundhogs see their shadows?
What did Punxsutawney Phil and Georgia’s famous groundhog General Beauregard Lee predict about spring and the end to winter?
JACKSON, Ga. –
Should you get ready to bundle up for more weeks or winter or be excited for early spring? General Beauregard “Beau” Lee, Georgia’s famous groundhog, is set to make his big forecast.
On Friday morning, Feb. 2, officials at the Dauset Trails Nature Center in Jackson will pull Beau out of his miniature mansion and announce whether he saw his shadow.
Beau’s ancestors began predicting seasons on Groundhog Day in 1981. He moved to the nature center from the Yellow River Wildlife Sanctuary in Gwinnett County after the ranch suddenly closed in 2017.
The nature center’s main gate will open by 6 a.m. with the groundhog expected to make his prediction around 7:30 a.m. after a short ceremony.
FOX 5 will stream the prediction live on FOX5Atlanta.com and on YouTube.
Gen. Beauregard Lee (Daucet Trails Nature Center)
History of Groundhog Day
Celtic people across Europe marked the four days that are midway between the winter solstice, the spring equinox, the summer solstice and the fall equinox. What the Celts called Imbolc is also around when Christians celebrate Candlemas, timed to Joseph and Mary’s presentation of Jesus at the Temple in Jerusalem.
Ancient people would watch the sun, stars and animal behavior to guide farming practices and other decisions, and the practice of watching an animal’s emergence from winter hibernation to forecast weather has roots in a similar German tradition involving badgers or bears. Pennsylvania Germans apparently substituted the groundhog, endemic to the eastern and midwestern United States.