Happy Groundhog Day

[Catherine]

Quote:Last year (but not this year) in this part of France we had buds and flowers coming out because of a warm January/February....then a very cold spell damaged them. This year the cold came earlier (December/January) and we hope that all the buds and flowers will survive.

It is brutal when that happens. Sometimes they don't recover and you go a year without certain flowers and seeds and fruits.

Quote:That freezing rain has to be the worst weather Catherine. It is the most dangerous I think, and very unpleasant.

It is the most dangerous. Not only is the ground coated with ice and impossible to walk on, everything else is coated with ice and big chunks can fall anytime and anywhere. People get hurt.

We got our warm front to melt the ice, now the cold front has dropped the temperature and it is bitterly cold.

Quote:So maybe the groundhogs are giving their local predictions, so they are all correct, haha!

Quote:Those groundhogs know their latitudes! They are not stupid. They are all good geography students  

This is it. Every city needs its own groundhog to give the local scene. Toronto has groundhogs, we just don't consult them. We would need more than one anyhow. From the east side to the west side and from the north to the south, the weather can vary.
I live closer to the lake and we get all kinds of lake effect weather. The north side can get the edge of something called the Snowbelt. The west gets the prevailing winds first  and sometimes things change after they get into the first river valley.
I don't go to the east side of town so I don't know what happens over there.

I am surprised the groundhogs don't give up weather prediction. They couldn't possibly get it right.