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Posts Tagged ‘Cross-quarter day’

Ephemeris: 02/02/2026 – Groundhog Day’s significance

February 2, 2026 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Ground Hog Day, Monday, February 2nd. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 52 minutes, setting at 5:53, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:59. The Moon, 1 day past full, will rise at 7:00 this evening.

I don’t know if Punxsutawney Phil will see his shadow this morning or not, but February 2nd was a special day to the ancients. It is also Candlemas day for the Catholic Church, and celebrated as a cross-quarter day, the middle of the season of Winter. Though the exact date of the middle of winter is the 4th. And if Phil sees his shadow, and we do get 6 more weeks of winters, that’s OK too. By the calendar it’s actually more like 7 weeks to the vernal or spring equinox and the official end of winter. Of the other cross-quarter days, two stand out today. They’re May 1st, May Day, and Halloween, October 31st. As far as winter goes, we’ve had lots of snow, and some extremely cold temperatures a couple of weeks ago.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EST, UT – 5 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

I'm no artist, so I asked AI to draw my Groundhog Day cartoon.
I’m no artist, so I asked AI to draw a Groundhog Day cartoon. Last year I had Microsoft’s Copilot do it, this year I asked Google’s Gemini. While I asked for a whimsical cartoon, I didn’t really mean that the shadow that the Groundhog cast was the direction of the sun and not away from it, among other things. Gemini got the nightcap I asked for correct. Copilot gave me a knit winter cap instead. The nightshirt is a nice touch. Next year I will enlist one of the other AI’s artistic skill.

Categories: Ephemeris Program, Folklore, Seasons Tags: ,

Ephemeris: 02/03/2025 – Did the groundhog see his shadow yesterday?

February 3, 2025 2 comments

Did it matter?

This is Ephemeris for Monday, February 3rd. Today the Sun will be up for 9 hours and 55 minutes, setting at 5:54, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:57. The Moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 12:35 tomorrow morning.

I don’t know if Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow yesterday morning or not, but February 2nd was a special day to the ancients. It is celebrated as a cross-quarter day, the middle of the season of winter, though the real date of the middle of winter is tomorrow. And if Phil saw his shadow, and we do get 6 more weeks of winter, that’s OK too. By the calendar, it’s actually more like 6 ½ weeks to the vernal or spring equinox the official end of winter, plus this is Northern Michigan. I don’t know if Phil is any better or worse than the National Weather Service at long range forecasts. Of the other cross-quarter days, two others stand out. They are May 1st, May Day; and Halloween.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EST, UT – 5 hours). Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

Microsoft Copilot AI image of a groundhog seeing his shadow
This is what I got from Microsoft Copilot AI when I asked for a an image of a groundhog with a night cap on standing in front of his burrow in the snow staring at his shadow. It’s interesting that the shadow of his body is off to the left, and the shadow of his head is to the right, and is mirror reversed. It’s a cool image nonetheless.
A real groundhog chewing on a bit of bread given by my granddaughter
A real groundhog chewing on a bit of bread given by my granddaughter Coley on the deck of a condo we were staying at in Virginia nine years ago.

Categories: Calendar, Ephemeris Program, Holiday, Seasons Tags: ,

02/02/2012 – Ephemeris – February 2nd isn’t just for groundhogs

February 2, 2012 Comments off

Ephemeris for Groundhog Day, Thursday, February 2nd.  The sun will rise at 8:00.  It’ll be up for 9 hours and 51 minutes, setting at 5:52.   The moon, 3 days past first quarter, will set at 4:39 tomorrow morning.

I’m not sure if Punxsutawney Phil will see his shadow this morning or not, but February 2nd was a special day to the ancients.  It is also Candlemas day for the Catholic Church.  It is also celebrated as a cross-quarter day.  The middle of the season of Winter, though the exact date of the middle of winter is the 4th.  And if Phil sees his shadow and we do get 6 more weeks of winters, that’s OK too.  By the calendar it actually more like 7 weeks to the vernal or spring equinox and the official end of winter.  Of the other cross-quarter days, only one stands out today.  It’s May 1st, May Day.  The way this year has been going, winter has had a hard time getting started.  The temperatures are above normal and the snowfall below normal.

* Times, as always are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of  Michigan.

Categories: Calendar, Ephemeris Program, Events Tags: ,