Groundhog Day: Manitoba rodents predict early spring

Manitobans can look forward to an early spring, if the province's two rodent weather prognosticators are to be believed.

Winnipeg Willow, a woodchuck from the Prairie Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, did not see her shadow at Cabela's Winnipeg shortly after 8 a.m. CT.

Meanwhile, a puppet known as Manitoba Merv also did not see his shadow upon emerging from his cardboard box hole at Oak Hammock Marsh.

According to legend, if a groundhog sees its shadow on Feb. 2, it will retreat to its burrow and there will be six more weeks of winter.

Both Merv and Willow were operating under cloudy conditions on Monday morning.

Staff at the Prairie Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre say they didn't just count on whether Willow saw her shadow or not — they monitored her activity throughout the winter as well.

"What we would believe is if she's more active during the winter time that we're going to see an early spring, and if she was quieter and sleepy like she was last winter, then we would predict another six more weeks of winter," said president Lisa Tretiak.

The temperature was –17 C in the morning, but it felt more like –22 C with the wind chill.

After a weekend that came with extreme cold warnings, CBC meteorologist John Sauder is forecasting temperatures in the mid-minus-teens early this week but a high of just –20 C on Wednesday.