Lee Says Early Spring; Phil Says 6 More Weeks of Winter

In a battle more than 130 years ago, it was the Yankee who won. In this morning's battle of dueling groundhogs, time will tell just who was right.

Punxsutawney Phil, the world's most famous groundhog, emerged early this morning on Gobbler's Knob in Pennsylvania and saw his shadow, therefore claiming six more weeks of winter.

Meantime, his southern counterpart, Georgia's own Gen. Beauregard Lee, failed to see his shadow, predicting an early spring.

Beau was awoken from his mock-up antebellum mansion at the Yellow River Game Ranch in Lilburn about 7:30 a.m., and told locals that an early spring is on its way. According to his owner, Beau has only been wrong once. That one miscue was in 1993 when Beau predicted an early spring, yet the South was hit with its worst blizzard in decades.

According to German superstition, if a hibernating animal casts a shadow on Feb. 2 — the Christian holiday of Candlemas — winter will be around for another six weeks. If no shadow is seen, legend says, spring will arrive early.

Dating back to 1887, Phil has seen his shadow 97 times, hasn't seen it 15 times, and there is no data for nine years, according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club.

With Punxsutawney only about 65 miles from Pittsburgh, many in the crowd this morning were waving their Terrible Towels, celebrating the sixth Super Bowl title for the Pittsburgh Steelers.