Today, February 2, is Groundhog Day. Good luck finding a groundhog that is confused enough to come out of hibernation and stick its head out of its hole. And of course, whether it sees its shadow or not has no bearing on when spring arrives.
It might surprise you, but the origins of Groundhog Day can be traced back to before Christ when February 2 was the “Feast of Lights,” because it was considered the midpoint of winter. That morphed into a Christian celebration called Candlemas (“Candle Mass”). “For as the sun shines on Candlemas Day, so far will the snow swirl in May.”
Somewhere along the line the Germans concluded that if the sun shone on February 2, and the hedgehog cast a shadow, there would be six more weeks of winter. This rather strange tradition came to America with the settlers, the hedgehog was replaced by the native groundhog or woodchuck, and the rest, as they say, is history!
Although Groundhog Day is still celebrated around the country, perhaps with tongue firmly planted in cheek, we humans seem to look to animals and plants to predict the season or weather. There were lots of cattail sloughs in the area when I grew up, and I would often hear adults predict the winter snowfall, their forecast made after close study of the height of muskrat lodges, or mounds as we called them. The higher the mounds, the more snow we were going to get.
Perhaps the most widely recognized predictor of an upcoming winter is the width of the brown band on a wooly worm. The wider the band, the milder the winter.
The examples of plant and animal characteristics used to predict the season or weather seems endless. And they are fun to consider. When dogs eat grass, it is going to rain soon. If leaves fall from the trees in the fall while still green, it will be a mild winter. If the ducks and geese fly south early, expect a tough winter. The same can be said for the early arrival of snowy owls to our area in the fall. A bumper crop of acorns predicts a cold winter, and if the squirrels are particularly busy gathering nuts for the winter, expect a tough one, “Squirrels gathering nuts in a flurry, will cause snow to gather in a hurry.” Or “onion skins very thin, mild winter coming in; onion skins thick and tough, coming winter cold and rough.”
All this makes for some fun conversation and helps us to observe nature. And although these predictors may lack accuracy, one thing is certain…the seasons will come and go, and we will have weather!
~Chuck Lura
