Will winter weather end early this season in Canada? [Video]

Today is Groundhog Day, and groundhogs across Canada will emerge from their burrows to cast their annual forecast on whether winter will end early this year.

Shubenacadie Sam is expected to be the first groundhog in North America to make a prediction, to be followed by Ontario’s Wiarton Willie and Quebec’s Fred la Marmotte.

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Pennsylvania’s Punxsatawney Phil, whose annual declaration has been explosively popular since the 1993 movie “Groundhog Day,” is also expected to make an appearance.

Folklorists say the Groundhog Day ritual may have something to do with Feb. 2 landing midway between winter solstice and spring equinox.

In medieval Europe, farmers believed that if hedgehogs emerged from their burrows to catch insects it was a sure sign of an early spring.

The tradition says if a groundhog doesn’t see its shadow on Groundhog Day, springlike weather …