Six more weeks of this? Bring it on
Clear skies, warm winds, highs hovering around 6 C for at least the next two weeks — if this is winter, most of us will happily take six weeks more.
Thursday’s much-celebrated Groundhog Day saw Balzac Billy emerge from his burrow north of the city with a long shadow behind him — most probably because of Calgary’s bright, warm sunshine.
But legend says it means six more weeks of winter, a winter that has already been declared one of the warmest in almost a century and a half.
“Balzac Billy says we are going to get six more weeks of winter? Well bring it on, Billy. I think we can all agree a winter like this isn’t so bad,” quipped Claire Masikewich, assistant marketing director with Cross-iron Mills, who organized the event at Balzac’s Blue Grass Nursery and Garden Centre on Thursday.
“Seven degrees, six degrees or 10 degrees. . . . If this is what winter looks like, I’ll gladly take six more weeks of it.”
Although we haven’t set any records yet, Environment Canada says december and january were among the Top 10 warmest in Calgary since 1884.
But like most Albertans, and their weather this year, Billy seems to stand out from the rest, separating himself from North America’s other rodentlike fortune tellers.
In other parts of North America, Pennsylvania’s Punxsutawney Phil agreed with Billy, but Ontario’s Wiarton Willie and Nova Scotia’s Shubenacadie Sam predicted an early spring.
According to folklore, hibernating groundhogs emerge from their burrows on Feb. 2. If they don’t see their shadow, spring is just around the corner. If they do see a shadow, they retreat, signalling six more weeks of winter.