Groundhog Day 2018: Georgia Gen. Beauregard Lee Makes Prediction

JACKSON, GA — With all due respect to that rodent in Pennsylvania, it's General Beauregard Lee who makes the call on Groundhog Day in the South. And, this year, Georgia's own four-legged prognosticator says that, sadly, we're in for more winter.

"But when I exited my house, what did I see? I saw a shadow of you and a shadow of me!" read Beau's Twitter account shortly after 7:40 a.m. on Friday. "I am sorry folks, but old man winter prevails! Happy Groundhog Day! Yours truly, Beau."

Coaxed awake by Waffle House hash browns, Beau had emerged from his home at Dauset Trails Nature Park in Jackson moments earlier. While it's not always the case, Beau agreed this year with his northern counterpart, Punxsutawney Phil, who also saw his shadow — a portent of a longer winter, according to tradition.

This marked the 38th year that Gen. Beauregard Lee has emerged from his white-columned Southern mansion to try to predict the weather for the coming weeks. (The current Beau is actually the nephew of the original.)

But, since last Groundhog Day, the future had started to look uncertain for the South's most famous weather predicter. In December, his old home — Yellow River Game Ranch in Lilburn — announced it would be closing after 35 years.

Fortunately, Beau found at new home at Dauset Trails, a private nature center about 60 miles to the south.

Per tradition, Beau was lured from his home Friday morning with scattered, smothered and covered hash browns from Waffle House — the breakfast chain founded in Avondale Estates and headquartered in Norcross.

The same rules apply for Beau as for Punxsutawney Phil. 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.

Groundhog Day his its roots around the Fifth Century. European Celts believed that animals had supernatural abilities to predict the weather, a fact they believed 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.

Photo via Dauset Trails Nature Park