The New Jersey groundhog Milltown Mel died on Sunday February 2, 2022 right before GroundHog Day.

Milltown Mel has been predicting early spring or late winter since 2015 at the Milltown Groundhog Day Festivity. Mel was about 5 or 6 years old when he died.

After his passing, Mel’s cousin was used to predict the possible early arrival of spring. This year, the groundhog saw its shadow so that means there is 6 more weeks of winter. 

According to nbcnews.com, the annual event in Milltown was started by Jerry and Kathy Guthlein.