Groundhog Day in Georgia: Did Beau See His Shadow?

LILBURN, GA — Spring is on its way in the South. So says General Beauregard Lee, the groundhog prognosticator at Yellow River Game Ranch just a few miles northeast of downtown Atlanta.

To chants of "Go, Beau!" from a crowd of hundreds, Georgia's groundhog emerged from his home — a white-columned Southern manse called "Weathering Heights" — at about 7:54 a.m. Thursday and headed out to embrace the day.

Beau's region-specific prediction split with that of his famous northern counterpart, Pennsylvania's Punxsutawney Phil, who predicted more winter weather is on the way.

For the 37th straight year, Beau emerged from his home to try to predict the weather for the coming weeks. (The current Beau is actually the nephew of the original.)

It's a decidedly Southern take on the Groundhog Day tradition.

Each year, Beau is coaxed out of his home with scattered, smothered and covered hash browns from Waffle House — the breakfast chain founded in nearby Avondale Estates and headquartered in neighboring Norcross.

The same rules apply for Beau as for his northern counterpart: If he comes out to embrace the day, that means winter is almost over. If he sees his shadow and heads back inside, that's a sign that six more weeks of chilly weather are on the way.

We're not sure about the methodology, but Yellow River Game Ranch also announced that Beau had predicted an Atlanta Falcons win over the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl, by a score of 42-21.

Last year, Beau emerged at 7:34 a.m. to unseasonably warm temperatures of 56 degrees and kept right on trucking, signaling an early spring.

The folks at Yellow River Game ranch say that, around the Fifth Century, European Celts believed that animals had supernatural abilities to predict the weather. This was particularly true on the day halfway between the Winter Equinox and Spring Solstice — or 40 days after Christmas and 40 days before Easter.

German and French folklore also held that when groundhogs and bears came out of their winter dens too early, they would be frightened by their shadows and retreat back into their lairs for another four to six weeks.

In the early Christian era, the formerly pagan observance became "Candlemas Day," and in the United States, Candlemas Day became Groundhog Day.

After he's done his duty, and presumably munched on his hash browns, on Thursday, Beau's work for the year is done.

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 55th year.

Photos courtesy Yellow River Game Ranch