Groundhog Day was yesterday, and thousands of people converged on Punxsutawney, Pa., to await a weather prediction from Punxsutawney Phil.

But in Southwest Virginia, Saltville's woolly mammoth had already made a prediction. On Jan. 26 at Northwood High School, Woolly -- the 12-foot-tall mechanical mascot of the Museum of the Middle Appalachians -- predicted six more weeks of winter weather. Yesterday, Punxsutawney Phil did the same.

Folks who work closely with the critters were glad to talk about the rivalry between the rodent and the mammoth.

"I really can't say anything other than it sounds to me like just another impostor trying to take a ride on the coattails of the real weather forecasting animal in this country. That would be, of course, Punxsutawney Phil," said Mike Johnston, vice president of the Inner Circle of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club.

But Janice Orr, a longtime volunteer at the Museum of the Middle Appalachians, said Woolly has far more experience in weather prognostication than Phil.

"She just feels like she knows the weather since she's been around for 30,000 years," Orr said. "And since she's an Ice Age animal, she feels like she has a lot of experience in recognizing the signs for winter weather.

"Why do you [Phil] think you can predict the weather when you spend most of your time underground hibernating during the winter?"

Johnston said Phil has heightened senses with regard to the weather precisely because he's not continually exposed to it -- and that his 122 years of recorded predictions top Woolly's 15.

"I'd have to say that Punxsutawney Phil is the preeminent weather forecasting animal in the world," he said. "The prognosticator of prognosticators."

Groundhog Day grew out of the European Christian tradition of Candlemas Day on Feb. 2, when it was said that a sunny day was a sign of more harsh weather to come.

Johnston said the early German settlers of Pennsylvania brought the tradition with them -- along with the tradition of determining whether a hedgehog had seen its shadow.

Groundhogs are more common in Pennsylvania than hedgehogs, so they eventually made the groundhog their weather forecasting animal of choice, Johnston said. Groundhog Day has been celebrated in Punxsutawney since 1886.

Each side claims its animal is 100 percent accurate when it comes to predicting weather -- though last year, Woolly accurately predicted six more weeks of winter while Phil predicted an early spring.

"We understand that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and we accept the flattery that the woolly mammoth presents to us," Johnston said. "But as far as being in competition for the top spot, not even close."
Debra McCown is a staff writer at the Bristol Herald Courier.