Zuni and Hopi, the twin prairie dogs, came out of their burrow in Terry, Montana and prophesied six more frigid weeks in Montana on Friday, January 29, 2010 sharp at 4:30 pm. That is three days earlier than when their cousin Phil in Pennsylvania usually comes out for his annual prognostication on winter weather

Zuni and Hopi, the Terry Montana Prairie Dogs, see their shadows

Eastern Montana has had a frigid winter so far and better be ready for six more weeks of snow, ice and freezing temperatures after Terry, Montana’s own twin prairie dogs emerged Friday afternoon and saw their shadows, dashing hopes for an early spring.

They poked their heads out into the cold Prairie County elements late in the afternoon, only to be met by their shadows.

The prairie dogs emerged after hibernating the winter in front of the Prairie County Public Library in Terry, Montana hoping their absent shadows would be a harbinger for warmer days.

But it was not to be — and the gloomy prediction for the extension of winter in Eastern Montana continues.

“They saw their shadows and went right back into their holes,” said Dale Galland, “We will have six more weeks of winter.”

Pennsylvania’s Punxsutawney Phil, arguably the most famous of the furry prophets, will certainly back the gloomy assessment of Zuni and Hopi during Ground Hog Day ceremonies being held on Gobbler’s Knob, a wooded knoll just outside Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

Zuni and Hopi’s prediction was read by Dale Galland, President of the Prairie County Chamber of Commerce, from a scroll that said: “The bright sky above me shows our shadows before me, and six more weeks of winter it will be.”

City of Terry authorities say Zuni and Hopi are always right about the duration of winter, but according to the U. S. National Climate Prediction Center, ground hogs and prairie dogs only get it right about 39 per cent of the time.

If you were wondering how two prairie dogs were caught coming out of their winter burrow for this picture opportunity, wonder no more. They were actually dead and obtained from Faber Taxidermy in Miles City. Inger Koppenhaver and Dale Galland posed them in front of the Prairie County Public Library in Terry, Montana to take the picture. Members of the Prairie County Chamber of Commerce got together this year to help publicize the fact that winter weather can be turned into their town receiving some well deserved publicity.

Dateline: Terry, Montana
Reported by: Bob van der Valk