Six more weeks of winter: Fenwick Flossie
Fenwick Flossie has spoken – as much as a groundhog can speak, anyway – and she’s calling for six more weeks of winter.
Flossie emerged from her slumber this morning at Centennial Park, home of the Fenwick Lions. The shouts of children from local schools roused her and she slowly crept her way to the entrance of her home. There, she saw her shadow, meaning winter weather will persist.
Rob Henson, chair for the yearly groundhog day event, said this is the 24th year the Lions have waited for Flossie to emerge and predict the forecast – and they trust her word.
“She’s never been wrong,” he said, but then corrected to say she’s only been wrong once. He said they don’t know what happened that year, but write it off as a fluke.
Primary grade kids from three local schools came out for the event. St. Ann Catholic Elementary School, Wellington Heights and Fonthill Montessori Preschool brought over busloads of students, who crowded around Flossie’s home.
Even though she saw her shadow, she still came back out to say hello to the children and give hugs.
The kids were also able to enjoy hot chocolate and cookies courtesy of Fenwick Pie Co.
And the kids are why the Lions continue to host the event, said Henson.
“The Lions do a great job of getting the community together,” said Pelham Mayor Dave Augustyn.
Not only were the kids out and excited, he said, but there were even some who’d made groundhog day masks for the occasion.
He said Pelham council also trusts Flossie’s predictions, even if they aren’t quite favourable.
Other groundhogs seem to agree with Flossie’s prediction as well. Both Punxsutawey Phil in Pennsylvania and Ontario’s own Wiarton Willie have seen their shadows, too. Six more weeks of winter appears to be imminent.
That is unless you’re going with Nova Scotia’s Schubenacadie Sam or Fred la marmotte from Val d’Espoir, Que., neither of whom saw their shadows and are calling for an early spring. Geoff Coulson, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment Canada, said for Niagara, the prediction of six more weeks of winter is a safe bet to make.
“That’s usually a pretty safe call to make because six weeks takes us into mid- March and we really don’t tend to get spring weather here to stay until we get into the month of April,” he explained.
Looking six weeks ahead, he said Niagara’s weather is going to be a bit colder than normal, too. Not bitter cold as Niagarans experienced in late December and early January, but a few degrees below normal temperatures.
He said typically around this time of the year, the temperatures sit at – 1 C, but instead they will be sitting around – 3 C to – 5 C.
Spring’s official start date this year is March 20, but Coulson said April is when we’ll really start to see the weather start to consistently improve.