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Is Spring Coming Soon?

A woodchuck mama and her baby at the entrance to their den.
A woodchuck mama and her baby at the entrance to their den.

Guess what today is?… it’s Groundhog Day! Here in western North Carolina, the day is very overcast, though warm. However, I don’t think the woodchuck will be seeing his shadow today… thus, an early spring might be around the corner! Are you ready?

Since 1988 the groundhog has been “right” 13 times and “wrong” 15 times on his weather prediction. Will his prediction be right this year?

According to This Day in History, “Groundhog Day has its roots in the ancient Christian tradition of Candlemas Day, when clergy would bless and distribute candles needed for winter. The candles represented how long and cold the winter would be. Germans expanded on this concept by selecting an animal–the hedgehog–as a means of predicting weather. Once they came to America, German settlers in Pennsylvania continued the tradition, although they switched from hedgehogs to groundhogs, which were plentiful in the Keystone State.” The first Groundhog day here in the US was celebrated in 1887.

If you want to test your knowledge about the mammal who makes this day famous, check out THIS post, written by me last year on this day.   Do you know what’s amazing about groundhog hibernation? Did you know a groundhog and a woodchuck are the same animal? Click HERE to see some photos and read about a day when a groundhog met a bobcat.

Happy Groundhog day friends! If you are a believer, dust off the flip-flops and get the shorts out of storage…

2 thoughts on “Is Spring Coming Soon?

  1. In fact…this will be just the 18th time since 1860 that Phil has not seen his shadow. But then again, how do you know when winter is truly over? Is it warmer? Has it stopped snowing? Are you beginning to plan your year? What actually defines the end?

    1. Sharon Mammoser says:

      I guess you know that winter is over when it is consistently WARM during the day and doesn’t go down below the 30s at night. Obviously the frogs would define spring differently that us as they seem to lay their eggs earlier and earlier every year.

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