Groundhogs

Well, tomorrow people in various small towns will be observing the behaviour of alliteratively-named critters (Wiretown Willie, etc.) in order to predict when spring will replace winter. Meanwhile Discovery News will probably rerun their smug debunking of the accuracy of this ritual.

Actually, I kind of think they're both wrong. I always assumed the key part of the legend was "sees its shadow, and goes back in, no early spring" and that the underlying idea was that if a cloudy day (no shadows) was still warm enough to bring an animal out of its hole at all, the weather must really be warming up, whereas a groundhog coming out on a sunny day was no biggie and didn't mean anything long term.

Since the forecasting groundhogs don't exactly seem to be living under natural conditions, I doubt their behaviour for forecasting purposes.

Here's the Weather Network's Groundhog Day page.

Two Years Already

Second Anniversary of the Columbia Disaster

Il eu ce rêve et cette audace,
Au sein des tourbillons,
De suivre, d'espace en espace,
Un chemin de rayons.

Qu'importe aux vaillants la tempête,
Si par un ciel d'été,
Il sont partis à la conquête
De l'immortalité.

Jean Bonnerot, Aux Aviateurs