ODESA, FEBRUARY 2nd, 2013, CONTEXT-PRICHERNOMORIE ― Odesa Zoo’s specialists have decided not to wake up the local “synoptic” on the Groundhog Day, Context-Prichernomorie correspondent reports.

The Odesa City Council Information Office reported today, 2 February.

According to the information, the Groundhog Day is a day celebrated on 2 February. According to folklore, if it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day, then spring will come early; if it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly see its shadow and retreat back into its burrow, and the winter weather will continue for six more weeks. This tradition is a novelty for Ukraine, and it became popular after the world famous “Groundhog Day” movie by Harold Ramis.

“Our synoptic Vatrushka groundhog is sleeping right now, and we’ve decided not to wake him up, in order to keep his biological rhythms in check. We could make a forecast basing on whether our groundhog was sleeping peacefully or squirming”, Odesa Zoo Science and Strategic Development Director Igor Belyakov emphasized.

Odesa’s groundhog is 3 years old. At the time being, he is single, but the Zoo’s specialists are actively searching for a spouse for him, and a female groundhog from Vinnitsa might join him soon. In general, the groundhogs live for about 15 years, therefore Vatrushka has yet to develop his weather forecasting talents.