Celebrity groundhog Shubenacadie Sam slowly waddled out of her tiny barn this morning and, under a grey Nova Scotia sky, reportedly could not see her shadow.
According to centuries-old folklore, that's good news for Canadians tired of wintry weather.
The tradition holds that if a groundhog doesn't see its shadow on Groundhog Day, springlike weather will soon arrive.
But if a shadow appears, winter's icy grip won't let go for quite some time.
At 8 a.m. local time, the door to Sam's enclosure was opened by provincial Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton, but Sam — or Samantha — did not come out until about five minutes later when she immediately ducked into a thicket of evergreens and disappeared.
As usual, Shubenacadie Sam was the first groundhog in North America to make a prediction.