Tomorrow is the day we find out if winter will end early or weather it will keep going for another six weeks. Tomorrow is Groundhog Day
Before people start, I do know that winter will officially end in late March no matter what a small rodent says. It’s for fun. A little something to break up the winter. You probably shouldn’t take it too seriously. Groundhogs are cute, but I doubt their weather predicting ability. And when you look into it, they are a replacement animal.
Apparently, people in Germany used to mark Candlemas, which is February 2, with predictions of the weather for the coming weeks. It was called Badger Day. Yes, the used badgers to predict the weather.
Badgers are not known for their sunny dispositions. In fact, they are known as rather cantankerous animals. Waking up a groundhog doesn’t sound too bad. Waking up a badger you could lose an arm or too, if you’re not careful. So I don’t blame them for switching animals. Waking up a badger to predict the weather really doesn’t sound so bad.
It was the German’s who moved to the area around Pennsylvania that brought the tradition with them. Maybe they just couldn’t find any badgers hanging around the area, so they picked a groundhog, simply because he was there. Might have been worse. They could have picked a squirrel. Then we’d never know what the weather was going to be. He stayed out. No, he went back in. Oh… he’s out again. A groundhog was probably the best choice. And definitely an improvement over a badger.
According to the forecast, it is expected to be a mix of sun and cloud tomorrow, so who knows if the little guy will see his shadow or not. With any luck we get a cloudy period at just the right time and spring will be here soon.
Although really, for winter to end, it should probably start first.
