In this midst of a cold winter, why not a bit of fun? February 2nd is known throughout North America as Groundhog Day.
This is the when the groundhog (marmot) emerges briefly from winter hibernation to check on the weather.
The story goes that if the animal sees its shadow (a sunny day) it will be frightened and go back to the den, meaning at least six more weeks of winter. If the critter sees no shadow, and stays out, then spring is supposedly just around the corner.
The whole groundhog prediction thing may be tied, at least in part, to an old Scottish couplet, “if Candlemas Day is bright and clear, They’ll be two winters in the year”.
February 2nd is of course the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox celebration of Candlemas-when lights are lit to celebrate the presentation of Jesus at the temple. But Candlemass itself has its origins further back to the traditional Celtic celebration of Imbolc, the beginning of spring, which was also set in the first days of February.
Because Canada is so big, weather conditions vary and as such Canada’s original weather predicting rodent, Willie, in Wiarton Ontario, has since been joined by several others across the country. These include Shubenacadie Sam, in Nova Scotia on the east coast, and Balzac Billy in Alberta in the western prairies, along with Brandon Bob, in Manitoba, and the even lesser known Winnipeg Willow also in Manitoba.
Of course the Celtic idea that spring begins in early February certainly doesn’t apply to Canada where temperatures were -15 in Wiarton Ontario, with a wind chill equivalent to -25 with light snow falling.
In Shabunecadie, Nova Scotia, the temperature was -16 this morning, but with wind, feels like -22, and with a winter storm warning with heavy snowfall and freezing rain later. Out in Balzac Alberta, it was -15, felt like -22, with some snow flurries.
Meanwhile back in Nova Scotia, the first weather forecaster because of the time zone differential, Sam was gently awakened and encouraged to come out of his special shelter at the Shubenacadie Wildlife Park at 8 AM
The verdict- six more weeks of winter.
The tradition of Wiarton Willie, the original Canadian climate forecaster, began back in 1956 as a barroom joke when the town, about 3 hours drive north of Toronto, put out a press release inviting people to a Groundhog Day party. When a Toronto Star reporter turned up to see the (non-existant) animal, one of the culprits tossed his fur hat into the snow, and the reporter took a picture, and the legend began,
Today, literally thousands turn up for the 3 day festival.
Of note however, Wiarton Willie, groundhogs have been unique among groundhog predictors as they are albino, vs the usual brown.
Not that that has improved the accuracy of his or any other of their predictions which hover around 30-40 percent correct.
In any case, this year at 8:07 Wiarton Willie’s prediction was different than Sam’s, opting for the prediction of an early spring.
As of posting, it was still too early for the western groundhog predictions.
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