Rodent looking for love rules our weather outlookI’m not a fan of lazy, large rats, but the tradition of Groundhog Day is interesting enough to give some attention.I remember looking forward to Groundhog Day as an elementary school student. Depending on how the weather had been through the winter, I would either hope for more snow days or an early spring.The hibernating groundhog awoke Wednesday to see his shadow, which means we’ll have six more weeks of winter weather.Our local snowmobilers and sledding fans might finally have something to smile about.The celebration of Groundhog Day began with Pennsylvania’s earliest settlers. They brought with them the legend of Candlemas Day, which states, "For as the sun shines on Candlemas Day, so far will the snow swirl in May ..."Candlemas has an early origin in a pagan celebration mid-point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. Superstition said that if the weather was fair, the second half of winter would be stormy and cold. For the early Christians, it became custom on Candlemas Day for clergy to bless candles and distribute them to the people in the dark of winter.That seems a lot nicer than waiting for a rodent to look for a shadow, especially since the woodchuck is obviously looking for something else.Groundhogs always emerge from their slumber this time of year to meet, mate and return to their burrows. In my younger days it was fun to wait for the big announcement of weather predictions. Now, I know the male woodchuck is just waking up to check out the local female gene pool.They do it this time of year because there is a small window of time when groundhogs must be born in order to survive: If the baby groundhog enters the cold world too early, it may not be able to find enough food. If the baby groundhog is born too late, it may not be able to build up enough fat layers for winter hibernation.Even so, it’s fun to see if the woodchuck from Punxsutawney, Pa., working for free since the 1880s, is more accurate than our weather forecasters.
