Groundhog Day in Alberta: Balzac Billy predicts 6 more weeks of winter

Albertans will see six more weeks of winter if prairie prognosticator Balzac Billy is to be believed. 

The "groundhog" – who is actually a person in a groundhog costume – seemed sleepy when he emerged from his burrow at the Blue Grass Nursery, Sod and Garden Centre in Balzac, Alta. on Wednesday morning.

After stretching, Billy looked down at the ground and saw his shadow, flipping sunglasses over his eyes and grabbing a shovel.

Billy’s prediction was the same as Nova Scotia’s Shubenacadie Sam who also saw her shadow, but differed from Ontario’s Wiarton Willie, who signalled an early spring.