Cheyenne Mountain Zoo has weather predictors too

If you are a fan of springtime in Southern Colorado, this isn’t news that you wanted to hear.

The nation’s most famous groundhog – Punxatawney Phil – saw his shadow Monday morning – meaning that we’re in for six more weeks of winter.

We took that message to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and found out we may have our own weather predictors right here in southern Colorado.

This winter in southern Colorado has seen the extremes – from snow storms to record warmth.

If you believe a certain rodent, that warmth won’t stick around.

That’s bad news for Nicole Adams.

“It breaks my heart,” she said.

But how good is Phil at his prediction?

It turns out his accuracy is at about 45 per cent over the past 27 years, according to the National Weather Service.

That doesn’t surprise some of the people that we talked to today.

Edith Caltrider said, “there’s six more weeks of winter anyhow. Especially here, because it’s just starting.”

When it comes to winter in Southern Colorado you can usually still get outside – with an extra layer or two.

“We do like to come to the park here to take walks around,” said Edith Caltrider.

But Spring is the season that Nicole Adams is looking forward to.

“It’s not too hot, it’s not too cold. It’s just perfect,” she said.

But what about the animals at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo?

Most of them don’t mind the cold because of their thick coats. And most also know when the seasons are changing.

Catrena Firth handles Helga, an Amur Tiger. She said, “when Spring comes around they start losing some of their fur so we start seeing them shed a lot.”

The bears get moving when it gets warmer as well.

“They are incredibly more active, they start running around, they start wrestling,” said their handler Rebecca Zwicker.

So maybe next year Colorado can have its own winter weather predictor.