Wiarton Willie, one of Canada’s best-known prognosticating groundhogs, predicted an early spring on Sunday after not seeing a shadow during the annual Groundhog Day event in Bruce County.
The prediction was made at 8:07 a.m. ET in Wiarton, following long-standing folklore that holds a shadow sighting signals six more weeks of winter, while the absence of one points to an earlier arrival of spring.
In Nova Scotia, Shubenacadie Sam did not make her customary public appearance.
The provincial government announced that the event at Shubenacadie Wildlife Park, roughly 50 kilometres north of Halifax, was cancelled due to a winter storm forecast and concerns about hazardous driving conditions caused by blowing snow.
Despite the cancellation, the province said that because Sam did not see a shadow, tradition also calls for an early spring.
Groundhog Day predictions have become a popular annual ritual in Canada and the United States, though they are rooted in much older European traditions.
In medieval times, farmers believed that the behaviour of animals such as hedgehogs emerging from their burrows could signal seasonal change.
Last year, Canada’s well-known forecasting rodents delivered mixed predictions on the timing of spring.
