Sarah Mills: Teachers deserve gratitude as school year wraps up
There's a collective sigh coming from Saskatchewan's teachers as the school year ends. Sarah Mills says teachers are ask...
Saskatchewan’s weather-predicting woodchuck had some good news for the province on Groundhog Day.
Whelan Woodie, who makes his home about 120 kilometres north of Prince Albert near the community of Whelan Bay, did not see his shadow Friday morning. That means the Land of Living Skies should be in for an early spring.
People should perhaps be extra thankful to learn of Woodie’s prediction. While mere groundhogs in other parts of North America can only predict up to six weeks of added winter, Woodie’s powers of prognostication can can extend to a full 10 weeks.
Hopefully, Woodie is being rewarded with some of his favourite fruit after his hard morning’s work.
Regina puppy makes ‘ground dog day’ prediction
Instead of a groundhog or woodchuck, the CJME Morning Show in Regina asked a visiting puppy for a spring forecast for southern Saskatchewan along with a Super Bowl prediction on Friday morning.
Cher, the shepherd cross puppy from the Regina Humane Society, chose the food bowl predicting at least six more weeks of winter weather for southern Saskatchewan. Watch the Facebook Live video starting at the 21 minute mark to see the adorable ‘ground dog’ day experiment. Later in the morning, she also picked the Patriots to win the Super Bowl.
Disagreement reigns among North America’s most prominent groundhogs
Ontarians could see six more weeks of winter after one of the country’s best-known groundhogs saw his shadow.
Officials declared a longer winter after Wiarton Willie emerged from his den just after 8 a.m. ET.
This year was the first for the young rodent, which replaced the previous Willie, who died last September.
Meanwhile, Nova Scotia’s famed Shubenacadie Sam had another prediction.
Sam waddled out of his fenced pen at about 8 a.m. local time and wandered around, a sign he was predicting an early end to winter.
Fans looked on and let out loud cheers as Sam, who lives at the Shubenacadie Wildlife Park, scampered around the snowy grounds on what was the 30th anniversary of his annual weather prediction.
In the U.S., Punxsutawney Phil has predicted weather for the community of Gobbler’s Knob, Pa. for the last 132 years. He also saw his shadow, meaning another vote for a longer winter.
—With files from The Canadian Press
