Groundhog Day 2025

@DaddyEvil My Dad used to make predictions like that too, and they were much more accurate than any old groundhog could be.

The predication for our region was for a hard winter, and that doesn't usually mean a short one. Wiarton Willie might be off on this year's call.

@Juliaacv I was laughing at another discussion that said Punxsutawney Phil was calling for an early Spring. NOAA (National Oceanic Atmospheric Association) checked back for 100 years and said the groundhog only had a 35% correct prediction rate. I listen to the older adults that look at things like how big the black part in the middle of some caterpillars are in the Fall going into Winter. (That's how my dad predicted the coming Winter.) It may not be accurate but it's another way to make a baseless prediction.

I think that the rodent is wrong this time around, but either way, spring in 6 weeks or 6 more weeks of winter is pretty much the same thing. One of the worst snow storms that I can remember was in mid March about 11 years ago.

@Juliaacv We wouldn't get snow here then, but in the Northern part of the state there was a Mud March snowstorm, but all the snow melted the next day

@snowy22315 It was a really late snowstorm, and it was a really bad one. I remember driving home on the River Road from town, and there was a car right behind me, making me a bit nervous. We did not get more than a km or so from the city limits and I hit a drift and my car stopped. He did also. It turned out that there were 9 cars in the same drift, none of us hit each other, the drift was that large. I called OnStar for a tow but the law had just closed the road, which meant that the tow truck couldn't come to my rescue. But the other drivers all shoveled and helped get each other out. When it was time for me to go, one of them saw how scared I was at the thought of them pushing the car as I drove it out, and he offered to drive it for me into the clearing and then I could hop in and drive it the rest of the way home.

I like the winter season, but I like all of the seasons. It always feels like we do not get the season of spring as we used to. It is much shorter and basically goes from cold and snow to heat and humidity, there isn't the 'nice' in between gradual warming time that there used to be.

@Juliaacv I know its all screwed up here too Julia..gone are the seasons.

I think that our rodent is off this time around. It has been a 'real' winter and I do not feel like it is ending soon.

You had a very short winter.

I can believe it. the temperature here has risen closer to the freezing mark, and slightly above it. That has caused the light snow to turn to rain, which is freezing upon impact. Hopefully it cools down and it goes back to snow.

@Juliaacv — I read that St. Brigid Day (or Imbolc in Gaelic traditions) contains the genesis of Groundhog Day. It’s celebrated because it’s, coincidentally, the mid-point of winter. So the groundhog can’t be wrong.

@FourWalls I agree, it is the middle of winter. I wasn't aware of St. Brigid Day, I will have to research and try to read up on it-thanks for that. As I look out the window, I see a light snow has started-again.

Isn't 6 more weeks of winter just about the same as 6 weeks until spring? I think that Willie may have been mistaken, but eventually spring will come along. I look forward to Linda's return, she is our official time keeper for the beginning of that season.

Here it was a cloudy day and the ground hog did not see his shadow.

It is just for fun. The town of Wiarton, where Willie resides, makes a big deal of attracting tourists for the day.

I hope that he is right too, but it is just too early for spring weather here just yet.

We've had some nice days, but winter nice not spring nice.