Wiarton Willie predicts an early spring

Furry forecasters across three provinces are in agreement, predicting an early spring on Groundhog Day.

Ontario's Wiarton Willie, Nova Scotia's Shubenacadie Sam and Quebec's Fred la Marmotte all reportedly did not see their shadows.

According to centuries-old folklore, that's good news for Canadians tired of wintry weather.

The tradition holds that if a groundhog doesn't see its shadow on Groundhog Day, springlike weather will soon arrive. But if a shadow appears, winter's icy grip won't let go for quite some time.

The consensus on spring's early arrival extended to western Pennsylvania's Punxsutawney Phil, whose annual declaration exploded in popularity after the 1993 movie “Groundhog Day".

Folklorists say the Groundhog Day ritual may have something to do with Feb. 2 landing midway between winter solstice and spring equinox.

Willie in past years

In Ontario’s South Bruce Peninsula, those keeping the Wiarton Willie tradition alive have also been seeking a fresh start in the aftermath of controversy.

The groundhog was nowhere to be seen at the festivities held virtually in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. It took nine months for the town to acknowledge the albino rodent had died.

Willie's handlers brought in an understudy the following year, but in a break from long-standing tradition, that animal was the usual brown colour. A white-haired replacement Willie was finally procured from Ohio for Groundhog Day in 2023.

It remains to be seen what Willie will look like today, but organizers say the rodent's prediction will be ushered in with pre-dawn fireworks over the Wiarton Arena parking lot.

The most famous Groundhog Day event in North America is taking place in western Pennsylvania, where Punxsutawney Phil will announce whether he saw his own shadow.

Thousands are expected to attend Phil’s annual declaration that exploded in popularity after the 1993 movie “Groundhog Day,” in which a curmudgeonly TV weatherman is stuck in a time loop and forced to relive the day in Punxsutawney over and over.

Groundhog Day is part of a tradition rooted in European agricultural life, marking the midpoint between the shortest day of the year on the winter solstice and the spring equinox. The practice of watching an animal’s emergence from winter hibernation to forecast weather dates back to ancient times and also has roots in a similar German tradition involving badgers or bears.

— With files from Sidhartha Banerjee in Montreal and The Associated Press