Groundhog Day's furry forecasters are giving mixed predictions on how long winter will last, with two of three so far seeing their shadows — indicating another six weeks of cold-weather misery.
Nova Scotia's Shubenacadie Sam came out of his burrow and saw his shadow soon after 8 a.m. AT Monday, which according to tradition means another month and a half of winter weather.
In Pennsylvania, the father of all groundhogs, Punxsutawney Phil, emerged with the same outlook after also seeing his shadow.
However, in Wiarton, Ont., Wiarton Willie — another rodent burdened with the tourism fortunes of a small community — dissented from his peers. He failed to see his shadow, indicating an early spring. He was operating under heavy cloud, with snow and blowing snow in the forecast from Environment Canada.
In Washington, D.C., Potomac Phil was scheduled to make both weather and politic predictions, CBC's John Northcott reported.
And in Winnipeg, lesser-known groundhog Winnipeg Willow was also looking for a shadow.
Last year, only Wiarton Willie was correct when he spotted his shadow.
Neither Shubenacadie Sam nor Winnipeg Willow saw their shadows, thereby forecasting an early spring.
They were wrong. A polar vortex plunged Canada into a brutal winter that dragged on and on.
Environment Canada has already crunched the data for the next month and come up with this prediction: February will be colder than normal across the country.
Senior climatologist Dave Phillips notes Wiarton Willie's overall record is spotty, but says predicting the weather is a tough gig.
"His batting average is not that great… but hey, neither is ours."
Why groundhog weather forecasters are male
The motivation for male groundhogs to stick their necks out at this time of year may not be weather-related at all, the National Geographic reported on its website Sunday.
Many of them do emerge on Groundhog Day, but not to see their shadow.
“At this time of year, males emerge from their burrows to start searching for the females,” Stam Zervanos, emeritus professor of biology at Penn State Berks, in Reading. Pa., told the National Geographic.
“The females come out probably seven days later and stay just outside of their burrow or maybe just inside their burrow.” he said.
Both sexes then return to their separate burrows to think about what they've seen and prepare for warmer mating weather.