Groundhog Day: Shubenacadie Sam, Wiarton Willie predict early spring
Postmedia News February 2, 2012 8:55 AM
Source - Montreal Gazette
According to legend, if a groundhog emerges from its burrow on Groundhog Day and sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter.
Photograph by: File, Reuters
The country's first two furry forecasters have brought good news to winter-weary Canadians on this Groundhog Day â as Nova Scotia's Shubenacadie Sam and Ontario's Wiarton Willie both failed to see their shadows Thursday morning.
That means, according to tradition, an early spring is on its way.
A good crowd reportedly turned out under overcast skies for the ceremony in Nova Scotia's Shubenacadie Provincial Wildlife park, the first of several such events across the country.
Later, in the community of Wiarton, about 200 kilometres northwest of Toronto, as officials and a town crier looked on, their favourite critter also gave the news people had been hoping to hear.
"Early spring it is!!!" the Wiarton Willie Twitter feed proclaimed to an online audience of weather watchers.
According to legend, if a groundhog emerges from its burrow on Groundhog Day and sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter.
If he fails to see his shadow, an early spring is in the works.
Still to come Thursday was one more major prediction: that of Alberta's Balzac Billy.
The news was less pleasant for our neighbours south of the border, as Punxsutawney Phil â made particularly famous by Bill Murray's 1993 movie Groundhog Day â did see his shadow in the town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, according to the Washington Post.
Postmedia News February 2, 2012 8:55 AM
Source - Montreal Gazette
Photograph by: File, Reuters
The country's first two furry forecasters have brought good news to winter-weary Canadians on this Groundhog Day â as Nova Scotia's Shubenacadie Sam and Ontario's Wiarton Willie both failed to see their shadows Thursday morning.
That means, according to tradition, an early spring is on its way.
A good crowd reportedly turned out under overcast skies for the ceremony in Nova Scotia's Shubenacadie Provincial Wildlife park, the first of several such events across the country.
Later, in the community of Wiarton, about 200 kilometres northwest of Toronto, as officials and a town crier looked on, their favourite critter also gave the news people had been hoping to hear.
"Early spring it is!!!" the Wiarton Willie Twitter feed proclaimed to an online audience of weather watchers.
According to legend, if a groundhog emerges from its burrow on Groundhog Day and sees its shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter.
If he fails to see his shadow, an early spring is in the works.
Still to come Thursday was one more major prediction: that of Alberta's Balzac Billy.
The news was less pleasant for our neighbours south of the border, as Punxsutawney Phil â made particularly famous by Bill Murray's 1993 movie Groundhog Day â did see his shadow in the town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, according to the Washington Post.