Groundhog Day
Listen in RealAudio
Email your weather question

Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton and this is The Weather Notebook. Today we're joined by Michigan commentator Melissa Ingells who has some thoughts on the celebration of Groundhog Day.

By the time February comes to the northern states, the cold is no longer a condition, but a force. Tires come loose from rims, bare skin sticks to metal, and things burn out trying to make their own heat.

I think cold causes its own sort of insanity, and to prove my point, enter Groundhog's Day, a holdover from an ancient Celtic holiday. What else but cold-craziness would inspire us to dig some poor animal out of its hole and make it look for something it's not even remotely interested in, namely, its own shadow? 'Could it be hibernation envy?' It's not a bad idea eat obsessively until you're fat, then sleep it off in a warm, cozy burrow until the cold goes away and you wake up thin from having burned off all those calories for heat.

Not that the original Celtic festival that Groundhog's Day came from was any less influenced by cold-inspired goofiness. Imbolc, also on February Second, was a holiday where it was the custom to light every light in the house and carry lit torches to encourage the sun to get moving toward summertime. Not as bad as badgering critters in caves but it sure sounds like a case of cold-inspired wishful thinking.

A better folklorist than I would know how the ancient holiday gave way to the modern one, but I believe we hang onto the tradition of Groundhogs' Day for the same reason the Celts had Imbolc--a need for reassurance that the bitter days of winter will end.

Melissa Ingells lives in East Lansing, MI. The Weather Notebook is underwritten by Subaru, the beauty of all wheel drive. Thanks today to producer Margaret Landsman