BOULDER, Colo. — Punxsutawney Phil and Flatiron Freddy are on the same page.
Hours after the famous Pennsylvania rodent forecasted six more weeks of winter, his Colorado-based marmot counterpart “saw” his shadow and made the same prediction.
Flatiron Freddy came into the Chautauqua Meadow with the help of a golden eagle this morning! Boulder's "seer of seers" and forecaster of the Flatirons saw his shadow, so six more weeks of winter it is! #boulder pic.twitter.com/tcvCOC0mYv
— Boulder OSMP (@boulderosmp) February 2, 2023
Freddy, a top hat-wearing, stuffed yellow-bellied marmot, zip-lined into the annual celebration at Chautauqua Park in Boulder in the claws of a wooden raptor. He’s known for his creative entrances over the eight years the tradition has taken place.
A marmot is tasked with the annual February forecast because groundhogs don’t live in Colorado.
Park rangers in Boulder used Freddy’s arrival with a raptor – a prairie falcon, to be specific – to bring awareness to raptor closures that began Wednesday in the city’s open spaces, including parts of the flatirons. The closures happen from Feb. 1 to July 31 to protect the habitat of nesting falcons and eagles, according to the city’s website.
