Milltown Mel, a groundhog who has offered his weather predictions for years on Groundhog Day, has died, his handlers say.
Milltown Mel rose to fame in Milltown, N.J., after he gave residents of the Garden State an idea of when to plant their springtime seeds.
Sadly, Milton Mel he died at “a tough time of year, when most of his fellow groundhogs are hibernating,” according to his handlers, who are known as the Milltown Wranglers.
Milltown Mel spent last year’s Groundhog Day in quarantine, due to the pandemic. But that didn’t stop him from predicting an early spring for his community, which sits roughly halfway between Trenton and Newark.
Milltown Mel’s tradition was started by Jerry and Kathy Guthlein “and has continued for 10 years,” according to Milltown’s website. “On February 2 of every year, Milltown Mel predicts whether we will see an end to winter or another six weeks of cold weather.”
Milltown Mel’s cause of death was not revealed.