Shubenacadie Sam is a Canadian groundhog who lives at the Shubenacadie Wildlife Park in the town of Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia. Every February 2, on Groundhog Day, Sam's shadow is closely observed at 08:00 AST to make the traditional prediction whether there will be an early spring. Due to Nova Scotia's Atlantic Time Zone, Sam makes the first Groundhog Day prediction in North America. [1]
The prediction ceremony draws an early-morning festive crowd of about 200 families and visitors to the wildlife park, sometimes heralded by a groundhog mascot, bagpiper and town crier. [2] The wildlife park, usually only open on weekends in the winter, changes its seasonal hours to open especially for the annual ritual. [3] Shubenacadie Sam predicted an early spring in 2024. [4]
Nova Scotian Groundhog Day traditions arrived with German Foreign Protestant immigrants in the 1750s who settled around Lunenburg where the day was known as "Daks Day" (from the German dachs for badger) after the belief that badgers could predict the coming of spring on February 2. [5] [6] The Shubenacadie Sam tradition at the wildlife park began about 1987 and differs from most other famous groundhogs as he is not woken from hibernation for Groundhog Day. [7] By 2018, four ground hogs had served as "Shubenacadie Sam" since the practice began in Nova Scotia, as groundhogs usually live 10-15 years in captivity. [8] In 2021, a 7-year-old female groundhog, "Samantha", assumed the prediction duties. [9] Park employees have served as the caretaker for Shubenacadie Sam and the park's groundhogs for over 20 years. They provide breakfast for the groundhog, usually yogurt and melon. Staff also read to the groundhog who has been designated an advocate for Family Literacy Day. Shubenacadie Sam inspired a children's book in 2022. [10] Pages of the book are displayed around the park offering visitors a groundhog tour of the park. The ceremony was held virtually by web streaming during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 and 2022 but live gatherings resumed in 2023. [11]
In 2018, Sam bit the finger of CBC reporter Brett Ruskin when the reporter grabbed the groundhog to stop Sam from climbing out of the groundhog enclosure. [12]
Shubenacadie Sam's prediction, like all weather-predicting groundhogs, bears little relation to seasonal weather trends as it is based on random location conditions, according to Meteorologist Cindy Day. Shubenacadie Sam has an accuracy rate of about 45%, according to Day, compared to 39% for Punxsutawney Phil and 25% for Wiarton Willie. [13]
2024 | "Early Spring" [14] |
2023 | "Long Winter" [15] |
2022 | "Long Winter" [16] |
2021 | "Early Spring" [17] |
2020 | "Long Winter" [18] |
2019 | "Long Winter" [19] |
2018 | "Early Spring" [20] |
2017 | "Early Spring" [21] |
2016 | "Early Spring" [22] |
2015 | “Long Winter" [23] |
2014 | “Early Spring" [24] [25] |
2013 | “Long winter" [26] |
2012 | "Early spring" [27] |
2011 | "Early spring" [28] |
2010 | "Long winter" [29] |
2009 | "Long winter" [30] |
2008 | "Early Spring" [31] |
2007 | "Early spring" [32] |
2006 | "Early Spring" [33] |
While Shubenacadie offers the earliest prediction every year, it is one of many towns throughout North America known for their winter-predicting groundhogs. The most famous is Punxsutawney Phil of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, United States. The most famous Canadian groundhog is Wiarton Willie in Ontario, Canada. Sam shares the Nova Scotia prediction every year with "Two Rivers Tunnel" in Cape Breton at the Two Rivers Wildlife Park in Mira River, Nova Scotia, although "Two Rivers Tunnel" is awakened for its prediction just after 11 am instead of 8 am. [34] Promoters of a lobster festival in Barrington Passage, Nova Scotia created a "Lucy the Lobster" ritual in 2018 with a lobster that crawled from the water to a lobster trap on Groundhog Day. [35]
Punxsutawney is a borough in southern Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, United States. Punxsutawney is known for its annual Groundhog Day celebration held each February 2, during which thousands of attendees and international media outlets visit the town for an annual weather prediction by the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil. The actual prediction location, Gobbler's Knob, is in adjacent Young Township.
Young Township is a township in Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,715 at the 2020 census. It was named for John Young, the pioneer judge of Westmoreland County. Young Township is the location of adjacent Punxsutawney's Groundhog Day celebration each February 2, during which thousands of attendees and international media outlets visit for an annual weather prediction by the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil. Although named for Punxsutawney, the actual prediction location, Gobbler's Knob, is in Young Township.
Stewiacke is a town located in southern Colchester County, Nova Scotia, Canada. The town was incorporated on August 30, 1906.
The groundhog, also known as the woodchuck, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. The groundhog is a lowland creature of North America; it is found through much of the Eastern United States, across Canada and into Alaska. It was first scientifically described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758.
The Mi'kmaq are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland, and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as Native Americans in the northeastern region of Maine. The traditional national territory of the Mi'kmaq is named Miꞌkmaꞌki.
Wiarton Willie is the name given to a Canadian groundhog who lives in the community of Wiarton in Bruce County, Ontario. Every February 2, on Groundhog Day, Willie takes part in the local Wiarton Willie Festival. His role is to predict whether there will be an early spring. Although the original Wiarton Willie died in 1999, the Wiarton Groundhog Day celebrations continue each year with a successor of the original Willie, and each successor is also referred to as Wiarton Willie.
Wiarton is a community in the town of South Bruce Peninsula, Bruce County, Ontario, Canada. It is located at the western end of Colpoys Bay, an inlet off Georgian Bay, on the Bruce Peninsula.
Punxsutawney Phil is a groundhog residing in Young Township near Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, who is the central figure in Punxsutawney's annual Groundhog Day celebration.
Staten Island Chuck, also referred to more formally as Charles G. Hogg, is a groundhog who resided in the Staten Island Zoo in Staten Island, New York City. He serves as the official groundhog meteorologist of New York City, who predicts the duration of winter each February 2 on Groundhog Day. The tradition dates back to 1981. He makes the prediction based on whether or not he sees his shadow during the ceremony between 7:00 A.M. and 7:30 A.M. on Groundhog Day. The ceremony at the zoo is sometimes attended and officiated by the Mayor of New York City. Chuck's prediction for 2024 was early spring, concurring with the prediction made by Punxsutawney Phil.
Shubenacadie is a village located in Hants County, in central Nova Scotia, Canada. As of 2021, the population was 411.
Balzac is a hamlet in Rocky View County, which is in the Calgary Metropolitan Region of the Canadian province of Alberta. It is located immediately west of Queen Elizabeth II Highway, at the intersection with Highway 566, 24 km (15 mi) north of Calgary city centre and 12 km (7.5 mi) south of Airdrie.
General Beauregard Lee is a groundhog in the US state of Georgia widely considered to be the Groundhog Day weather prognosticator for the Southern United States.
The Sable Island horse is a small feral horse found on Sable Island, off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. It has a horse phenotype and horse ancestors, and is usually dark in colour. The first horses were released on the island in the late 1700s, and soon became feral. Additional horses were later transported to improve the herd's breeding stock. They were rounded up for private use and sale for slaughter, which by the 1950s had placed them in danger of extinction. During the 2018 study, the estimated population was 500 horses, up from the roughly 300 recorded in the 1970s.
Buckeye Chuck, Ohio's official weather-predicting groundhog, resided in Marion, Ohio, US, until June 2023 and has resided at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History in Cleveland since then. He is one of two whistlepigs in Ohio known for predicting the arrival of spring on Groundhog Day. A native of Ohio, Chuck began predicting the arrival of spring in the 1970s. In addition, the Ohio General Assembly declared Buckeye Chuck the official State Groundhog in 1979. However, from 2006 to 2015, Chuck's forecast was correct only twice.
Groundhog Day is a tradition observed regionally in the United States and Canada on February 2 of every year. It derives from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day and sees its shadow, it will retreat to its den and winter will go on for six more weeks; if it does not see its shadow, spring will arrive early. In 2024, an early spring was predicted.
The Shubenacadie Provincial Wildlife Park is a government-operated wildlife park located in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia, Canada. The 40-hectare park includes animals, an interpretive nature centre operated by Ducks Unlimited Canada, hiking trails, a picnic area and playground.
Groundhog Day is a musical with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin and a book by Danny Rubin. It is based on the 1993 film of the same name, which featured a screenplay co-written by Rubin.
Stormy Marmot is a yellow-bellied marmot of the Rocky Mountain region, living in Aurora, Colorado. Every February 2, on Groundhog Day, Stormy makes a prediction for the remainder of winter.
Fred la marmotte was a groundhog located in Val-d'Espoir near Percé, Quebec, whose behaviour was used to predict weather on Groundhog Day.
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