Canada’s two foremost weather-minded marmots are at loggerheads. Nova Scotia’s celebrity groundhog, Shubenacadie Sam, is predicting a long, cold winter ahead, while Ontario’s Wiarton Willie claims an early spring is on the way.
Sam emerged briefly from her enclosure at a wildlife park north of Halifax this morning _ Groundhog Day _ and according to her handler, she saw her shadow.
As the door to her pint-sized barn opened, Sam poked her nose outside, sniffed a nearby carrot and promptly returned inside to avoid the brisk -12 C weather.
Willie, meanwhile, was rolled out onto a stage in a Plexiglas box and, according to Wiarton Mayor Janice Jackson, proclaimed spring was nigh. Read more: Wiarton Willie dead, to be replaced by brown groundhog for annual February festival Folklore has it that if a groundhog sees its shadow on Feb.