Six more weeks of winter predicted

According to the famous Pennsylvania groundhog Punxsutawney Phil, there will be an early spring this year - quite the contradiction for Sisters Country.

Each winter on Groundhog Day, folks in west-central Pennsylvania wait for Punxsutawney Phil to emerge from Gobbler Knob and provide a forecast for either a late winter or an early spring ahead. According to the folklore, which all started in 1886, if he sees his shadow we will get six more weeks of winter, if he doesn't we will get an early spring.

The prediction is made at 7:25 a.m. EST during a ceremony overseen by a group called the Inner Circle. The members don top hats and tuxedos. Punxsutawney Phil is placed in a heated burrow underneath a simulated tree stump before being pulled out by the mysterious Inner Circle.

The Pennsylvania town takes Phil seriously; he can be known as the seer of seers, although he has been right only 39 percent of the time.

But what does this all mean for folks in Sisters Country?

The answer lies at the Oregon Zoo in Portland. The zoo has its very own weather predictor each year on February 2, an African Pygmy Hedgehog named Jabari, which means "brave one" in Swahili.

Hedgehogs are the traditional weather-predictor experts according to zoo director Kim Smith, who oversaw the zoo's Hedgehog Day festivities.

The little critter did see his shadow, indicating winter will last another six weeks.

So who's right? Hard to say: Like Punxsutawney Phil, Jabari has been right about 38 percent of the time.