Forget Groundhog Day: It's Armadillo Day In Texas

Forget Groundhog Day. In central Texas, it's Armadillo Day.

Bee Cave Bob the Armadillo made his prediction — and it's the same as Punxsutawney Phil. Texas is getting six more weeks of winter, according to KPRC.

Armadillo Day started in Bee Cave, Texas, a town just outside of Austin. The tradition started 10 years ago by a group called the Benevolent Knights of the Raccoon, according to Click 2 Houston.

“We have BBQ or chili and then we release the armadillo to see if he will see his shadow and can predict the weather,” Bee Cave Bob's handler Ralph Fisher told Click 2 Houston. The process works the same as Punxsutawney Phil's: if Bob sees his shadow, it's six more weeks of winter. If Bob doesn't see his shadow, spring will arrive early.

Even though Phil and Bob predict the weather in a similar way, Fisher doesn't think the two would get along in real life.

”Well, I guess they wouldn’t get along too well. We just don’t appreciate rodents too much here in Texas. We are real proud of ourselves, aren’t we? Matter of fact, we have some likeness in our posters, with he and, what do you call it? Oh groundhogs, OK, I thought they were rodents, who can respect a rodent? Armadillos are not a rodent, so I just imagined they’d be fighting it out," he told Click 2 Houston.

Six more weeks of winter sounds likely, considering North Texas, along with much of the Midwest, has been upgraded to a winter storm warning. That means snow, ice and sleet are in store for the region. Temperatures are also expected to reach -5 to -15 degrees over the weekend.