I’m no groundhog, but I’m going to make a weather prediction anyway on this Groundhog Day – six more weeks of the lousiest winter we’ve had in years.
Though I know I’m in the minority, I’m willing to speak up and say I miss the snow and the cold. And it’s not just because I’m heading to Ottawa today for an event that depends heavily on sufficient cold to run smoothly.
If my memory is accurate, this will be the fifth straight year that I have headed to the capital to partake of the Winterlude festivities – in particular, skating on the 7.8-kilometre Rideau Canal Skateway.
Maybe I’ve just been lucky up until this year, but the skateway has always been open during my visit. This year, there’s a good chance that at least part of it will be closed.
But I and the other Ottawa tourists will not be the only ones disappointed if Old Man Winter doesn’t make an appearance in the next few days.
Families across Guelph who have been looking forward to the city’s Winterfest activities will surely be disappointed, too.
With the way things are going, snowshoeing, outdoor skating and tobogganing probably won’t be happening this Winterfest. And while there will be other activities – crafts, indoor skating and the like – it won’t be the same without the snow.
It’s not that we haven’t had unseasonably warm Winterfests in the past, but this whole winter has been a disappointment.
For those who disagree with me, well, we may just have to agree to disagree on this point.
Winter is a joy for the young and the young-at-heart. While there’s snow on the ground, kids are easily entertained in the outdoors – tobogganing, building snowmen or snow forts, and just generally rolling around in the white stuff.
Take that snow away and kids are left with mucky parks and yards, which will be no good for outdoor play until spring. And that’s if it’s not raining.
So the kids, and I, are stuck inside nursing our escalating cabin fever.
I’m no scientist, so I don’t know if this winter’s unseasonably high temperatures (norms for this time of year range from a low of –12 C to a high of –4 C) are a sign of global warming, but it feels that way and I don’t like it.
With clouds in the forecast, meteorologists were predicting that Wiarton Willie would be unlikely to see his shadow today, but whether that will still mean an early spring when we have yet to have a proper winter remains to be seen.
For now, Environment Canada is not predicting any snow for Guelph in the near future, at least not in time to make Winterfest wintery.
I’m still crossing my fingers for some more typically Canadian weather while taking in Winterlude in Ottawa.