February 2 is Prognostication Day or Ground Hogs Day.
The official Ground Hog for Central Ohio, Buckeye Chuck lives in Marion Ohio, north of Columbus. We'll hear on the news tomorrow about Buckeye Chuck's wake up call. Buckeye Chuck is a more down to earth ground hog than the celebrity ground hog in Pennsylvania, in my opinion. Buckeye Chuck's website is part of the Ohio Department of Natural Resource's website. Lots of good Ground Hog information.
From Ground Hog Central"Shadow means 6 More Weeks of Winter. No Shadow means an Early Spring."
The best known American ground hog is Punxsutawney Phil of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania . The celebrity of American Ground Hogs. GHC says: "Featured in the Movie "Groundhog Day," his Web site is home to the Groundhog Day Inner Circle and provides a Schedule of Events in Punxsutawney on and around February 2."
Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania had a full slateof Groundhog activties last weekend and the fesitivities run throuhgh Sunday. Punxsutawney, PA takes Ground Hogs Day serious!
Wiarton Willie of South Bruce Peninsula, Ontario
Holland Huckleberry of Holland, Ohio
General Beauregard Lee of Liburn, Georgia
Pee Wee of Mile Square Farm, Vermont
Birmingham Bill of Birmingham, Alabama
Sir Walter Wally of Raleigh, North Carolina
Birmingham Bill of Birmingham, Alabama
Unadilla Bill of Unadilla, Nebraska
Staten Island Chuck of Staten Island, New York
Octorara Orphie of Quarryville, Pennsylvania
Cloudy of Brookfield, Illinois
and more .....
Of note Ground Hog Central says of Pierre C. Shadeaux of New Iberia, Louisianna: "Those who are familiar with the history of the local Cajun Groundhog will recall how Pierre considers himself much more civilized than some of the other weather predicting animals, especially that Yankee groundhog up in Pennsylvania. That's why Pierre usually makes his prediction after 8 a.m. on Groundhog Day, while others get out at sunrise to make their predictions."
Of Furby the Wonder Chicken of Vancouver, British Columbia - GHC says "From Ground Chicken Central in Vancouver BC Canada. Furby took on the equal opportunity title of "Official Ground Chicken." Yes this is a chicken.
In Columbus it has been a springlike winter other than a couple of weeks in December and a day here and there. I believe the Sunday Columbus Dispatch said this is the warmest winter in over 100 years so far.
Does that mean we are going to have an early spring? Or a late winter? Only Buckeye Chuck knows for sure.
From the sunny south... yep, the sun is shining, but I know we're not having another 6 weeks of winter because we haven't had any winter yet! Actually, it has only frosted in my front yard once so far this winter, so I guess I can take six more weeks of what we've had so far! As a transplant from the north, I truly appreciate our climate, and wonder why it took me so long to relocate.
I remember moving here (St. Simons Island, GA) in 1985, and I immediately saved a small fortune the first winter by not having to buy coats, gloves, mittens, scarves, hats, snowsuits, sleds, etc. for my three young childred! To make a long story not quite so long, we don't worry about winter here. So groundhog's day doesn't mean much here; the only reason I know about it is because I'm originally from WV.
Anyway, Happy Groundhog's Day to All!
Thanks Sally,
Ohio is south for me being from Wisconsin... my first spring in Akron about 20 years ago seemed much shorter than WI winters.
Buckeye Chuck disappointed me today but six weeks from now... I will have forgotten.
Enjoy your warm weather!
Maureen
Twin Cities, Minnesota, has clear skies and sun today meaning that the poor groundhog came out of his burrow and scared himself away for another 6 weeks of winter! It matters not, as spring doesn't come until March 21 anyway, which means we still have 6 more weeks of winter! Did I say we still have 6 more weeks of winter?
The question for us in the snowy states is whether that winter will include snow and cold. So far in Minnesota, we've been sorely disappointed with our lack of typical winter weather. Ski hills cannot keep man made snow on slopes when the temperatures are above freezing! This is the week of St. Paul's Winter Carnival and, while the balmy temperatures are great for the parade watchers, it was awful for the ice sculpture contest which melted into oblivion. My honey and I went early to see the sculptures hoping they had not melted too much, only to find piles of ice shards and blobs of dripping ice.
Tourist alert: St. Paul's Winter Carnival week is usually a great time to come to the Twin Cities. You can tour the carnival activies; enjoy the multitude of fine arts venues (Ordway, Chanhassen, Walker Art Center, etc.); ski, ice skate and ice fish; see St. Paul when it's lit in winter splendor; and understand why Minnesotans love our winters.
The best "groundhog" to appear in my life many years ago was my "baby" brother. Happy birthday, Jerry!
Bonnie,
Happy Birthday to Jerry.
I like winter but I want snow for Christmas and January.. then done. We usually don't get much snow. The grass is actually kind of green this year. It is usually very yellow and the snow is more picturesque. I just get my hopes up that we will have an early spring each year.
Well I guess I have to say that 6 more weeks of winter sounds like a great idea! Boring weather in California, in the 60's today, a bit overcast as we're just coming off some rain. But I just heard we may be in for a "la nina" over the next couple of months. What that means is that NORTH of us, Oregon and Washington may be in for unseasonally warm weather and heavier than normal rains. But for us here in the San Francisco Bay Area, we may be dryer than normal. It has been a warm winter here, only maybe one or two days of anything even near frost. So winter over the next 6 weeks to us would simply mean more rain. We have pretty stable weather and it only rains from November thru April for the most part. For me, I'm looking forward to the warm , dry spring mornings!
Catherine Myers
www.DiabloValley.net
Contra Costa County in the beautiful San Francisco East Bay Area!
> Thanks for the comment Catherine. I always think of you being Southern California for some reason.... I heard the news about 'La Nina' and was trying to explain it last night at dinner but failed miserably. One of my favorite science courses in college was meteorology... but I had never taken physics so some of it was way over my head. So I rely on the Groundhog prediction year after year. ;- )
Here in the very center of the country, our weather has been "strange." And, every year it gets stranger.
December had freezing cold temperatures and snow. It felt like a 'normal' January.
January came and went...no snow! Most of the time the temperature ranged from 25 to 49. Nice. Almost like California<g>.
Now, that we're in February, there's speculation that we may get that snow and cold.
We're actually in a drought, so I know that the farmers and gardners want some.
Me? Much prefer to see the sun and feel the warm breezes...but, I'll have to wait till May.
> Thanks for the comment Eileen. I was showing a house yesterday and there were flowers blooming on the front lawn. Columbus people.... Century 21 listing in Minerva Park... Westbridge..... run over QUICK!! I am pretty sure the flowers are snow drops... I have never seen flowers blooming this early here before. They are not budding...my daffodils are coming up... trees and shrubs are budding. These flowers are blooming. The flowers had blossoms on February 3, 2006!
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