Sunset Sam's call: 6 more days of winter

SUNSET — It seems like we've done this before, doesn't it? The freezing weather, the huddled groups of people, the burrowing animal wrapped in a blanket and held up for all to see.

Just like it was yesterday, Utah's own rodent forecaster, Sunset Sam, a guinea pig with uncanny meteorological perception, declared in guinea pig Latin that Utah would see at least six more days of winter.

It's a rough job when you're so small and lesser-known than your big-shot cousin, Punxsutawney Phil. Phil got that movie deal a few years ago: famous movie stars, lots of screen time, all the carrots he could eat and the girls, man. The girls. Did his own stunts, too.

But Sam, who makes his quiet predictions in the cozy city of Sunset, nestled in the Intermountain West, doesn't need all of that. He shuns it, in fact, in favor of a few minutes of limelight each Feb. 2, Groundhog Day.

Sam's the humble type, even happy to let the day's name give credit to all of his crazy groundhog cousins, who couldn't even seem to agree on their weather predictions Monday.

Phil, way out in Pennsylvania, saw his shadow: Six more weeks of winter. Same story with the three Canadians — Wiarton Willie, in Ontario; Shubenacadie Sam, in Nova Scotia; and Balzac Billy, in Alberta.

But the New York cousins — Malvern Mel, Holtsville Hal, Dunkirk Dave and Charles G. Hogg — couldn't agree. Just like them, too. Mel, Dave and Charles said it would be an early spring, while Hal, the brown-noser, went along with Punxy Phil.

Charles took a cheap shot at New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and bit him on the hand, causing a minor wound. It seemed like a bitter year for groundhogs. Sam was feeling a little frisky, too, and took a nip at Brent Andrews, Sam's mentor, and Vicky Gold, Sunset's recreation supervisor.

According to a Deseret News analysis of national rodent-forecasting data, eight groundhogs around the country saw their shadows, and five failed to do so.

It adds up for a complicated sense of the season. Six more weeks of winter, or early spring?

You know you can always trust Sunset Sam, who aims just six days ahead. At least six more days of winter sounds about right for this time of year. It's a forecast the National Weather Service, which predicts highs in the low to mid-40s and lows in the 20s for the coming week, can agree with.

And after 15 years now of making predictions at 100 percent accuracy, Sam might just make a name for himself, after all.

E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com