Today is Candlemas Day, the second of February, when the Groundhog is supposed to predict the likelihood of an early Spring. While Pennsylvania’s Punxsutawney Phil is probably the best nationally known prognosticator of the weather, many others of the species Marmota monax are weighing in as well.

In Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia Sam the woodchuck failed to see his shadow in the rain this morning, foretelling an early Spring. Another Canadian groundhog, Ontario’s Wiarton Willie, concurred. In New York, Staten Island Chuck is also calling for an early Spring, although I suspect many New Yorkers would at least like to see some snow before that happens. Ohio’s Buckeye Chuck predicted an early spring in Marion. He’s been making forecasts since 1979. And in Woodstock, Illinois, where the movie Groundhog Day was filmed, Woodstock Willie opined that an early spring was on the way as well.

Punxsutawney Phil might say these five are amateurs. at Gobbler’s Knob, where people began lining up at 3 AM in anticipation of his prediction, Phil saw his shadow just before 7:30 AM, and predicted six more weeks of winter. But here in Georgia, General Beauregard Lee awoke from his sleep at the Yellow River Game Ranch and did not see his shadow, making it six marmots to one in favor of an early spring.

Of course, we won’t know which prediction is correct for another two months. However, the National Weather Service, which is a bit more scientific in its predictions is calling for a good chance of warmer than normal weather for most of the eastern half of the United States in February, so maybe the groundhogs will be right.

After a day that brought up to six inches of snow in Dahlonega, and icy conditions to parts of the north metro area (but not Gwinnett County), the groundhogs have made their annual predictions for the arrival of spring.

Both Beauregard Lee and Punxatawny Phil woke up this morning, and didn’t see their shadows. According to legend, this means that spring is just around the corner.

You wouldn’t know it from some of the more traditional models of weather forecasting. The overall weather pattern in the United States has a ridge in the west, and a trough in the east. This is allowing brutally cold air to descend from Canada into the middle of the country and then move eastward, while the western part of the country stays warm.

This weather pattern will probably stay in place for the next week to ten days. Even though the coldest part of winter is theoretically over, we’ll be lucky to see 50 degrees the week of the 12th, even though by then the high should be around 55. After that, there’s a possibility that the pattern will shift to more favorable weather, or at least something that gives us the possibility of seeing 60 during the day.

Meanwhile, central Florida got a taste of one of the bad things about spring — strong tornadoes. At last report, at least 19 people died when a tornado ripped through the Orlando area early this morning. The satellite picture below shows central Florida this morning, and highlights Lady Lake, one of the towns severely damaged by the cyclone.

Here in Georgia, we typically don’t get the worst tornadoes until March. The Weather Service has scheduled Severe Weather Awareness Week for the week of February 19th, including a statewide tornado drill on the 21st.

America’s two groundhog weather forecasters made opposite predictions for the end of winter this morning, with Georgia’s General Beauregard Lee emerging from his den and not seeing his shadow, and Pennsylvania’s Punxatawny Phil seeing his.

According to tradition, that means that as far as Beau is concerned, we’ll have an early spring. Phil predicts six more weeks of winter. The two woodchucks made identical predictions last year.

Here in Georgia (and in Pennsylvania, for that matter), most of January felt like spring. The Weather Service is predicting a turnaround in the pattern, however, to more normal temperatures, if not colder than normal. The computer models that are used to make these predictions have been unreliable and changing at times from day to day, leaving forecasters unsure of the confidence level in the forecasts. Once two fronts make it through Georgia today and Friday night, for the next two weeks you can look for highs only around 50 degrees — not very springlike to me.

The nation’s two groundhog forecasters split their predictions this morning, with Lilburn’s own Beauregard Lee calling for an early spring, and his northern cousin, Punxatawny Phil calling for six more weeks of winter.

In his twenty fifth year of prognosticating the weather, Beauregard, shown at right, announced that it was time to put away the cold weather gear, and prepare for spring.

Up at Gobbler’s Knob in Pennsylvania, thousands of people gathered to hear the forecast of more wintry weather.

What will happen? Unfortunately, no one really knows. Beau missed the call on the famous 1993 blizzard that dumped about a foot of snow in Georgia on the day before the March NASCAR race. Some forecasters see some similarities to that weather pattern in this winter’s weather, so we’ll just have to wait and see.

Short-term, we’re in for some ugly weather for the next 24 hours or so. We’re right on the edge of the freezing line, and while it’s unlikely that we’ll see a repeat of last weekend’s ice storm, the further north you go, the worse it’s likely to get.