VIDEO: Malverne Mel Bids Grizzly Winter Early Goodbye

The fierce winter weather may have put Malverne's Groundhog Day ceremony on ice, but the village's four-legged weatherman Mel prognosticated that grizzly days like this are numbered.

Although he could not emerge from his cage during the village's traditional celebration in front of the gazebo at as he's done the past 14 years, Mel made a visit to Wednesday morning to reveal whether or not he saw his shadow.

A small group of residents, reporters and village officials, and the Civic Association's 6-foot Mel impersonator, huddled around the groundhog and his handler,  Andre' Ricaud of Party Pets in Baldwin.

While their were no kids in attendance this year, the drawings of the five top student artists in the 2011 Malverne Mel Ground Hog Poster contest was on display.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THIS YEAR'S WINNERS.

Ricaud  also had his assistant, Kelly, bring along a small cheering section for an early spring forecast, a litter of six white baby bunnies that had just been born during the post-Christmas blizzard.

Clad in her black top hat, Mayor Patricia Norris McDonald bent over a cage erected in the lobby of Village Hall and using her fluency in Groundhogese, interpreted Mel's forecast for the people.

VIDEO: Watch the video to see what he saw and share your reaction below in the comment section.