Canadian rodent forecasters ready for Groundhog Day

Details
Category: Canada News
Published Tuesday, February 2, 2016
CTV News

Thousands across the country will be turning to four-legged forecasters with names like Wiarton Willie and Shubenacadie Sam today to learn if spring is just around the corner.

See Full Article

According to tradition, if the groundhog sees its shadow when it emerges from its burrow on Groundhog Day there will be six more weeks of winter. But this year's festivities have already been marred by the death of one prognosticating marmot.

Groundhog Day celebrations have been cancelled in Manitoba due to the death of Winnipeg Willow, who died last Friday at the Prairie Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre.

Wiarton, Ont., is holding a festival to celebrate 60th anniversary of predictions by the town's albino groundhog - Willie.

Nova Scotia's Shubenacadie Sam has the honour of making the first North American prediction of the day due to the province's time zone.

Pennsylvania's Punxsutawney Phil, arguably the best-known weather predicting woodchuck, noted Winnipeg Willow's passing with his handlers saying they were surprised by news of the death of Phil's colleague.



Advertisements

Latest Canada & World News

  • Hundreds at Harvard, NYC, Chicago protest China's actions

    World News CTV News
    CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Hundreds of people gathered Tuesday at Harvard University and near Chinese consulates in New York and Chicago to support protesters who have called for that country's leader to step down amid severe antivirus restrictions in the biggest demonstrations against the government in Beijing in decades. Source

  • Chinese spaceship with 3 aboard docks with space station

    World News CTV News
    BEIJING - Three Chinese astronauts docked early Wednesday with their country's space station, where they will overlap for several days with the three-member crew already onboard and expand the facility to its maximum size. Docking with the Tiangong station came at 5:42 a.m. Source

  • Colorado governor visits gay club shooting memorial

    World News CTV News
    News - Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Tuesday visited the memorial outside a gay club where five people were killed last week, solemnly walking along a line of flowers, crosses and signs bearing the photos and names of the victims outside the building with the club's owners. Source

  • Former premier Jason Kenney resigns from Alberta legislature

    Canada News CTV News
    Thousands asked for it while he was leader and now Jason Kenney has done it, announcing his resignation as a member of the Alberta legislature on social media on Tuesday. The former Alberta premier and United Conservative Party leader made his statement on Twitter, thanking constituents for supporting him during his 25 years in politics. Source

  • Records: Bullet found near 2 teens' bodies came from suspect

    World News CTV News
    INDIANAPOLIS - An unspent bullet found between the bodies of two teenage girls slain in 2017 "had been cycled through" a pistol owned by the suspect in their deaths, according to court documents an Indiana judge ordered released Tuesday. Source

  • Landmark same-sex marriage bill wins Senate passage

    World News CTV News
    WASHINGTON - The Senate passed bipartisan legislation Tuesday to protect same-sex marriages, an extraordinary sign of shifting national politics on the issue and a measure of relief for the hundreds of thousands of same-sex couples who have married since the Supreme Court's 2015 decision that legalized gay marriage countrywide. Source

  • Biden, Macron ready to talk Ukraine, trade in state visit

    World News CTV News
    French President Emmanuel Macron is headed to Washington for the first state visit of Joe Biden's presidency – a revival of diplomatic pageantry that had been put on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Biden-Macron relationship had a choppy start. Source

  • Hawaii volcano eruption has some on alert, draws onlookers

    World News CTV News
    HILO, Hawaii - The first eruption in 38 years of the world's largest active volcano is attracting onlookers to a national park for "spectacular" views of the event, and it's also dredging up bad memories among some Hawaii residents who have been through harrowing volcanic experiences in the past. Source

  • Canadian military plane intercepted by Chinese jets 'numerous' times in recent weeks

    Canada News CTV News
    Chinese military jets conducted several intercepts of a Royal Canadian Air Force patrol plane as it flew surveillance sorties from Japan as part of an international effort to enforce sanctions against North Korea, the Department of National Defence confirmed Tuesday. Source

  • Report: Many female Israeli conscripts suffer sexual abuse

    World News CTV News
    JERUSALEM - Roughly one in four women performing compulsory national service in Israel's police force and prison service have suffered sexual abuse on the job, according to a report by Israel's official government watchdog agency. Source