Is a Texas armadillo or a Pennsylvania groundhog better at predicting the end of winter?

AUSTIN, Texas — Punxsutawney Phil has met his match. On Friday, the Pennsylvania groundhog was challenged by a Texas armadillo to see who is the better weather predictor.

“We don’t see any way we should recognize a rodent in Pennsylvania when we have the real thing here,” said Ralph Fisher, one of Bee Cave Bob’s handlers.

Bee Cave Bob has been forecasting the end of winter for eight years in the town of Bee Cave, west of Austin. Fisher can rattle off a bunch of reasons why an armadillo is more trustworthy than a groundhog.

“Armadillos are our state's small mammal. They have been designated by the State Legislature,” said Fisher. “They’ve also been around a hundred million years.”

But Fisher says the most important reason this should be Armadillo Day instead of Groundhog Day is that Bob has a better record than Phil in accurately predicting the end of winter and the start of spring.

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“100%. We have not missed it yet,” said Fisher.

Phil’s accuracy rating is about 40%, but Phil has been looking for his shadow much longer than Bob. This year the rivals had the same prediction.

“Folks, he ain’t seeing no shadow,” said the announcer at Friday’s event.

This means an early start to spring with announcers putting the date on March 11th.

“Long live Bee Cave Bob,” yelled the crowd.

Bob has already spent half his life forecasting the weather so on Friday the long-timer shared the spotlight with his eventual replacement.

“He won’t last forever so we want to be prepared by training another one to do this,” said Fisher.

3-month-old Bobby meets all the requirements for the job.

“He has all his body parts. See that long tail,” said Fisher.

Bobby is cute, but it will be a few years before the youngster is seasoned enough to become an armored oracle and take on Pennsylvania’s furry forecaster.