A brief history of Saskatchewan's attempts to possess an official groundhog
CTV
The annual spectacle of Groundhog Day is here. However, in Saskatchewan, the prophesying event is without its central figure, an official groundhog.
The annual spectacle of Groundhog Day is here. However, in Saskatchewan, the prophesying event is without its central figure, an official groundhog.
A total of five provinces across Canada have an official marmot for the occasion. From Shubenacadie Sam in Nova Scotia to Van Isle Violet in B.C.
However, in place of an official groundhog, the land of living skies has seen an abundance of forecasting from some peculiar and notable sources.
“Snewsie” was the brainchild of Warren Michelson, who came up with the idea while working as an ad executive at the Moose Jaw Times Herald.
Snewsie was the annual weather predictor for Canada’s “Most Notorious City” for a number of years in the mid 2000’s.
“We got our own Snewsie, predicting the weather for all of western Canada and its right here in Moose Jaw,” Michelson told CTV News Regina in 2008.
“We needed something that would be more localized and we thought well, the gopher being the cousin of the groundhog would be a practical thing. Its native to this area and it could tell us what the future is going to be as far as weather.”