Groundhog Day reprised

Last year, Groundhog Day was cloudy and the ground was snow covered. This year, the ground is not but the day is just as gray.

Where the heck did the idea of predicting weather based on a groundhog's shadow come from?

The first major snow storm of the winter (at least here in Toronto) happened earlier in the week, dropping around 5cm of snow through the course of an evening. Within 24 hours, 8C temperatures and rain had melted or washed it away. Halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox, it seems unlikely that we will get the 6 weeks of killing cold that we need to keep down insect and other pests, so this will likely be an interesting summer.