Bring on spring: mixed messages from groundhog prognosticators

Put away the skis and snowboards, two of Canada’s high-profile prognosticators are calling for an early spring.

Both Wiarton Willie and Nova Scotia’s Shubenacadie Sam didn’t see their shadows when they came out of hibernation at annual Groundhog Day celebrations Thursday. However, a U.S. cousin expressed his disagreement.

“He said ‘hello summer, it’s an early spring,’ ” Wiarton mayor John Close said live on Breakfast Television.

“It’s amazing…No doubt in his mind, it’s an early spring.”

Hundreds of people were in attendance for the Wiarton event that saw Willie whisper his forecast to the mayor. A festival in Willie’s honour will continue through the weekend, featuring concerts and sports events.

Folklore has it that if a groundhog sees his shadow on Groundhog Day he’ll flee to his burrow, heralding six more weeks of winter, and if he doesn’t, it means spring’s around the corner.

The forecasts come in the middle of an unusually mild winter that has taken even seasoned meteorologists by surprise.

Environment Canada warned this fall to expect colder-than-normal temperatures in the north and west. But the past few months have brought balmy weather peppered with a few cold snaps in most of the country.

“The one thing uniting all Canadians right now is the question of ‘where’s winter?’ We’re almost sending a search party looking for it,” said Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips.

“Even in the Arctic we’re seeing examples of a winter that has not behaved normally the way it should be.”

Last year, several of the groundhogs — including Willie — predicted an early spring while a raging snowstorm battered Ontario.

Meanwhile, about 150 people cheered Sam’s forecast on an overcast day at Nova Scotia’s Shubenacadie Wildlife Park shortly after dawn.

Susan Penney, a station co-ordinator at the park, about 60 kilometres north of Halifax, says because Sam didn’t see his shadow it’s a sign of an early spring.

“I don’t think we are going to have balmy spring weather tomorrow, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel,” she said.

Unseasonably warm temperatures from coast to coast have made winter a non-event for most Canadians.

In the United States, Pennsylvania’s Punxsutawney Phil emerged from his lair to “see” his shadow on Thursday, predicting six more weeks of winter.

The groundhog made his “prediction” on Gobbler’s Knob, a tiny hill in the town for which he’s named about 100 kilometres northeast of Pittsburgh.

Temperatures were near freezing when he emerged at dawn, which is unseasonably warm for the area.