Punxsutawney Phil ‘predicts’ 6 more weeks of winter What do you think?

What time do the groundhogs give us their predictions?

Like New Year’s Eve, Groundhog Day predictions don’t happen all at
the same time – they sweep across North America in a wave of bucktoothed
prophecies.

The earliest forecast in Canada on Tuesday comes from Shubenacadie Sam, in Nova Scotia’s Shubenacadie Provincial Wildlife park, at precisely 8 a.m. AT. Next up? Ontario’s famous Wiarton Willie (the Canadian answer to the U.S.’s famed Punxsutawney Phil – our Muhammad Ali to their George Foreman), followed by Alberta’s Balzac Billy.

In Wiarton’s Bluewater Park — Willie’s digging grounds — a whole week-long festival has
evolved surrounding the town’s 56th Groundhog Day, including live
entertainment, road hockey, fireworks, a “zero gravity circus” and
something called “Wee Willie Idol.”

So how accurate can a groundhog be?

To the more cynical among us it must seem unlikely that an animal could have the ability to predict the weather. The Canadian Encyclopedia notes that a study of weather data places the beasts’ accuracy north of the border at just under 40%, commenting dryly that “33% accuracy can occur by chance.”

Long-term planning be darned — how do I track every moment?