BUTTS COUNTY, Ga. — UPDATE: Beau has declared -- early spring it is! You can re-watch the full event in the video player above this story.
Original story below
Pennsylvania's Punxsutawney Phil takes the headlines every Groundhog Day, but down in Georgia all eyes turn to another meteorological Marmota monax (that's the groundhog's scientific name).
Every year in Butts County, General Beauregard Lee -- or Beau, for short -- emerges out of his home at the Dauset Trails Nature Center and tells us whether we'll see six more weeks of winter weather or if we'll get an early spring.
It's not exactly scientific, but Beau at least has a better rate of success than Phil up North.
According to a recent analysis done by 538 for this sort of thing, Beau is accurate about how the winter/spring split will play out in the Southeast about 70% of the time, while Phil has been less accurate than a coin-flip for his home region since 1994 (about 40%).
For the Southeast, Phil is even less accurate -- about 30%.
More about General Beauregard Lee
General Beauregard Lee lived at the Yellow River Game Ranch in Gwinnett County for more than 25 years until the ranch suddenly shut down in 2017.
Dauset Trails Director, Ike English told 11Alive sister station WMAZ back in 2020 that Waffle House hash browns and Indian Springs water is what has kept the south's "Doctor of Southern Groundology" predicting the weather for 39 years.
Beau used to live in Gwinnett County at the Yellow River Game Ranch, where he stayed more than 25 years before that ranch suddenly shut down in 2017.
His name is drawn from Confederate history -- in reference to Generals P.G.T. Beauregard and Robert E. Lee.