Rejoice everybody!
Balzac Billy did not see his shadow on Monday morning, meaning Albertans can look forward to an early spring.I tweeted about this earlier in the week, but this really is patently ridiculous. The original Candlemas applied to European weather, where "early Spring" was around February 20th, and "6 more weeks of winter" meant spring didn't happen until the unnaturally late time of March 20th.
The sky was cloudy when the "groundhog" popped up out of his burrow at the Blue Grass Nursery and Garden Centre.
He grabbed a cup of coffee, then searched long and hard before finally declaring that there was no shadow to be seen.
The crowd who had gathered to see him erupted in cheers
When "long winter" means "all the way until St. Patrick's Day", it's a meaningless construct. Remember mid-March in 2006, when spring was here and...the daytime high was -3? Er, how about that -5 daytime high (-17 overnight low) in 1974? Maybe you were thinking the balmy -4 in 1983?
Groundhog Day isn't applicable on the prairies. Even in sunny Balzac.
