Not So Fast, Phil: Local Groundhog Forecasts Six More Weeks of Winter

Forecasting the end of winter is most definitely "G" thing.

That's Ms. G. to you. And, as it turns out, our local groundhog is not prone to peer pressure.

While the more famous Punxsutawney Phil cast no shadow when he made his appearance on Groundhog Day and declared springtime would be soon upon us, Ms. G. the prognosticating groundhog at Mass Audubon’s Drumlin Farm in Lincoln, did see her shadow, suggesting we’re in for six more weeks of winter.

Click on the video posted to your right to watch Ms. G. deliver her forecast.

Ms. G. made her forecast shortly after 10 a.m. today, Feb. 2, exiting her carrier and climbing atop a stump as a large crowd cheered her on. And, sure enough, as the sun shown down her shadow was cast down across the leaves below.

Two groundhogs. Two forecasts. Who are we to believe?

Well, if you’re to ask the folks at Drumlin Farm, the choice is easy: Ms. G, of course.

“Definitely Ms. G.,” said Sarah Woods, sanctuary marketing assistant at Drumlin Farm. “She’s here in Massachusetts and he’s out in Pennsylvania.”

Soon, though, the question may be moot. There’s a movement afoot that could put Ms. G on par with Punxsutawney Phil – in these parts anyway.

A bill has been submitted to the state legislature to declare Ms. G as the Official Groundhog of the Commonwealth.

Mish Michaels, the former WBZ weather personality, and her daughter’s classmates at the Hunnewell Elementary School in Wellesley have been spearheading an effort.

“As Feb. 2 rolled around every year, I thought, why do we go to Punxsutawney Phil in Pennsylvania for our forecast? That just seemed wrong,” Michaels said, addressing the crowd at Drumlin Farm. “So we decided Ms. G. should make a run for the office of ‘Official State Groundhog.’”