Weather February 2010

[Rodger Whitlock]

Punxsatawney Phil, the groundhog of Gobbler's Knob, Pennsylvania, saw his shadow today. We are therefore fated to another six weeks of winter.



My attitude is "bring it on!" Unlike most of the US, Canada, and Europe, we've had a fairly mild winter here and I wouldn't mind it lasting well into March. The current somewhat chilly weather (5C nighttime lows, typically) is ideal for encouraging newly sown seed to germinate.

[johnw]

Punxsatawney Phil, the groundhog of Gobbler's Knob, Pennsylvania, saw his shadow today.

So did Shubenacadie Sam, about 50 km from here and halfway between the equator and north pole.

In 1981 Spring came in February here, days of 20c at that time of year should have alerted us that an unavoidable frost was due.  It descended in mid-April - the very same night that Edinburgh got walloped during the post AGS 1981 tour.

johnw

[Lesley Cox]

I love this link Rodger. Shows that Americans as well as the English and Scots (and NZers - ours seem to involve throwing gumboots) have customs that are totally incomprehensible to the rest of us. We need these in the world.

John, I remember that frost and that tour. Were you on it? Did we met in those dim dark days? I remember touring around Scotland following the post Con tour, in the midst of what seemed a perpetual blizzard. Inverewe garden was devastated by severe frosts and right down as far as Huddersfield there was snow banked up against alpine house doors. (I remember one with the snow cleared in the doorways at each end, both these wide open and a cold fan going, "to keep the plants cool." It was May by that time, and until May 1st, Scotland was closed for business. Almost impossible to get a meal anywhere, though I remember haggis and chips eaten on the banks of Loch Ness, as we watched for monsters.

[cohan]

they don't get the national attention, but apparently there are groundhogs in alberta which are also consulted in this silly tradition (all it amounts to is whether its sunny or not-since that varies day to day and hour to hour, how can it predict the next months of weather??)
anyway, the alberta critters had a different conclusion than those down east, and we are supposed to have an early spring, so rodger, ours being nearer to you than the pennsylvania one, i wouldnt count on the longer winter...

the bigger joke about this is that spring(depending on how generously you define spring) is not coming to alberta in less than six weeks--the earliest wild flowers in this area are in late april (earlier down south), early may being more common, at which time the grass is still brown and trees are not thinking about leafing out seriously yet; last year there were remnants of drifts in shady spots well into may, and some notable snowfalls late in that month (mixed with some very warm days) so our remaining winter would be better counted in months, not weeks!