WIARTON, Ont. (CP) - The perils of global warming weren't lost on Canada's most famous four-legged weather forecaster Friday as Wiarton Willie predicted an early end to a late winter that had many Canadians wondering if it would ever come at all.
As the world's leading climate experts met in Paris to declare global warming "unequivocal" and its cause man-made, this central Ontario town's pudgy albino groundhog emerged from hibernation to add his considered opinion.
"(Melting ice) in the Arctic, Pacific Rim typhoons out of season, snow storms in California," town crier Bruce Kruger bellowed in his preamble to Willie's appearance before hundreds of curious onlookers.
"Yes, Wiarton Willie is not only a prognosticating expert, but has fast become aware of global warming - he takes this great matter into his calculations."
Willie's verdict?
Spring is just around the corner, and with it warmer temperatures.
While there was no evidence the pink-eyed woodchuck has seen Al Gore's climate-change documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," Kruger said Willie has been discussing the film's central themes with Mayor Gwen Gilbert.
In fact, Willie wants to strike a summit of his own on global warming, said Mac McKenzie, who founded the Wiarton festival 51 years ago.
"He's asking for one groundhog from each of our provinces to meet here next year and say, 'OK, we're going to see how this is going,' " said McKenzie.
It appears Willie, if such a conference is convened, will have the support of his four-legged brethren.
Nova Scotia's furry weather forecaster, Shubenacadie Sam, and Pennsylvania prognosticator Punxsutawney Phil also failed to spot their shadows.
Folklore has it that if a groundhog sees his shadow on Groundhog Day, he'll flee to his burrow, heralding six more weeks of winter - if he doesn't, it means an early spring.
A bewildered Sam emerged from his custom-built enclosure near Halifax to the sound of the bagpipes and a town crier and with a light snow falling.
"We had a great hurray . . . because we're going to have an early spring," said Sue Penney, a spokeswoman for Nova Scotia's Department of Natural Resources.
Punxsutawney Phil was greeted by more than 15,000 revellers who milled about in a misty snow waiting for the prediction, as fireworks exploded overhead and music blared in the background.
Sammi Gainor, 17, said she and her father Richard first attended the Punxsutawney ceremony four years ago.
"Since then, it's really been just good memories of things I do together with my dad," Gainor said.
Added her father: "It's just kind of fun seeing people go so crazy about a groundhog."
Since 1886, Phil has seen his shadow 96 times, hasn't seen it 14 times and there are no records for nine years, according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. The last time Phil failed to see his shadow was in 1999.
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