Groundhog Day was on a Monday this year so we unified Mumtaz’s Birthday and Groundhog Day celebrations into a long weekend.

It is an even numbered year which would normally suggest a drive to Wiarton beginning at 2am, ending at 6am followed by a delightful 2.5 hour morning in the outdoors (temperature this year was -15C). Unfortunately Mumtaz, Sam and Trevor wouldn’t listen to reason and refused to travel to Wiarton, go figure.

The atmosphere was electric at 6:30AM but we paused for the Mandatory Misery Shot™, simulated this year as we were not in the freezing cold outdoors as usual.

And, for good measure, here are Sam and Trevor, you can just see the excitement building.

Star and April

We met Star and April in 2014 in Wiarton, this year is the 20th anniversary of their Groundhog Day celebrations in a wonderful variety of locations so congratulations from our family on this milestone. This year Star and April travelled to Sun Prairie Wisconsin which is roughly in metropolitan Madison. They posted a good number of dispatches this year; click here to see more.

Punxsutawney

The sun rises in Punxsutawney at around 7:05am. It is a bit sad to say but Punxsutawney absolutely sets the bar for Groundhog Day celebrations, and this year was no exception. Punxsutawney Phil predicted 6 more weeks of Winter in front of a huge adoring crowd.

Wiarton

Sad to report but again this year, in my opinion the Wiarton Willie reveal was lacklustre. Willie himself, performed admirably, a very poised performance. To my surprise, having watched the weather in the area, Willie predicted an early Spring. We are pleased with this, we have experienced a couple of weeks of serious winter this year, more than usual.

Groundhog Day Roundup

I used to link to the cute Groundhog Roundup site which keeps a record of prognostications for 6 groundhogs. Trevor found something much more comprehensive so for the first time, click here for groundhogday.com.