Groundhog Day

Ontario’s Wiarton Willie 

DOES NOT not see shadow,

predicts EARLY Spring.

Folklore has it that if a groundhog sees its shadow on Feb. 2, it will retreat into its burrow, heralding six more weeks of wintry weather. No shadow is said to foretell the early arrival of spring-like temperatures. Canada’s three foremost weather-minded marmots are at loggerheads this Groundhog Day.

Nova Scotia’s celebrity groundhog, Shubenacadie Sam, and Quebec’s Fred la Marmotte both predicted a long, cold winter ahead, while Ontario’s Wiarton Willie claimed an early spring is on the way because it did not see it’s shadow.

• Sam, who because of her time zone has the honour of making Canada’s first groundhog-based prediction each year, emerged briefly from her enclosure at a wildlife park north of Halifax on Wednesday morning and according to her handler, saw her shadow. As the door to her pint-sized barn opened, Sam poked her nose outside, sniffed a nearby carrot and promptly returned inside to avoid the brisk -12 C weather.

It derives from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day and sees its shadow due to clear weather, it will retreat to its den, and winter will go on for six more weeks; if it does not see its shadow because of cloudiness, spring will arrive early.