День сурка may not be an official holiday in Canada, but the country does have several groundhogs who forecast the weather every year on February 2nd.

According to legend, if the groundhog sees his shadow on the 2nd of February, it means that winter will last for six more weeks.

While Pennsylvania’s Punxsutawney Phil may be the best known weather-predicting groundhog in the U.S., Canada’s most famous may be Wiarton Вилли, who looks for his shadow on Ontario’s Брюс полуострова. Ð’ этом году, Вилли увидел свою тень, so winter in Ontario is not yet over.

Город Wiarton проводит ежегодный Wiarton Вилли фестиваль during the first week of February. Wiarton Вилли даже есть его собственная страница Facebook.

Other Canadian groundhogs include Schubenacadie Сэм в Новой Шотландии, who also says that this year’s winter will last six more weeks, and  Бальзак Билли в Альберте, who is predicting an early spring.

В Манитобе, как Брэндон Боб и Манитоба Мерв seem to be competing for the official provincial groundhog designation, and both apparently indicated that spring is on the way.

Вы можете читать полный 2010 groundhog report from the Canadian Press here.

Фото Барбара L. Хэнсон (Flickr)