Letter of the Week: G

What is your prediction? Will Mr. Groundhog see his shadow? Six more weeks of winter or an early spring? Back before we had instruments and technology to track and predict weather patterns, farmers observed the habits of animals to try to figure out when winter was over so they could plant their crops. Farmers in Europe used badgers, hedgehogs, and bears to forecast the coming of spring. The early settlers in North America found the groundhog to be ideal as it wakes from hibernation in February and was easily observed in eastern United States and Canada.

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