When Will Winter End?

Today is Groundhog Day - that time in winter when non-skiers like me look at all the snow outside - and wonder when spring will arrive...

Traditionally we look to this little animal, the groundhog, to tell us if winter is over now or if we can expect another six weeks of snow and cold. Today was a lovely day here in Ottawa! The weather hovered around the freezing mark as long as the sun was out. As you can see from the shadows in the picture, however, any little groundhog coming out of his burrow here today would see his shadow, turn around and go back to sleep for another six weeks. Or so the tradition goes. Spring, according to the groundhog theory, will come around mid-March.

In our family, we have another system for determining when winter will end. We count down the 100 days of winter, starting on December 1. According to the Hutchins' 100-Day Theory, winter begins on December 1 and ends 100 days later on March 10. (If it snows in October or November, is it winter? you might ask. Not according to the theory. Likewise, if it snows at the end of March, it's spring - not winter - snow.)

Terry has been counting down his 100 days for years, and I thought it was a random number. (As they say, behind any successful man is a surprised woman.) But then a friend asked him the obvious question that I never bothered to ask: How did you arrive at this theory?

Well, according to the stats on the Weather Network (Terry's favorite internet site), December 1 is the first day that the average daytime high temperature where we live is below freezing, and March 11 is the first day that the average daytime high temperature is above that mark! So those are the 100 days of winter! It's all so logical!

How accurate is Terry in predicting the end of snow and cold? Probably about as accurate as the groundhog, I'd say! But really, it doesn't matter how you predict when winter will end, the important thing is that once Groundhog Day (February 2) is here, there is an end in sight - or so we hope!