Balzac Billy is the "Prairie Prognosticator", a man-sized groundhog mascot who prognosticates weather on Groundhog Day.[1][2] He lives in Balzac, Alberta, 8 km north of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.[3]
According to the legend of Groundhog Day, the groundhog's behavior is a way of forecasting the weather. If the groundhog sees his shadow, it will mean that winter is to continue for six more weeks.
The original groundhog created by Merle Osborne was replaced and the mascot was created by Calgary radio station CFAC program director Jim Kunkel in the late 1970s.[4]
In 2019, Balzac Billy predicted an early spring.[5]
In 2022 and 2024,[6] Balzac Billy predicted six more weeks of winter.[7]
^Griwkowsky, Catherine (2012-02-02). "Balzac Billy's legacy casts a long shadow". Edmonton Sun. Sun Media. Retrieved 2013-02-02.
^"Watch: Balzac Billy the groundhog to forecast Alberta's spring". Red Deer Advocate. 2018-02-01. Retrieved 2019-10-29.
^Maclean, Rachel. "The wacky, wonderful and surprisingly accurate tradition of Balzac Billy". cbc.ca. CBC/Radio-Canada. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
^"The groundhogs have spoken. Will Calgary see an early spring? | Globalnews.ca". globalnews.ca. 2019-02-02. Retrieved 2019-09-24.
^"The groundhogs have spoken. Will Calgary see an early spring? | Globalnews.ca". globalnews.ca. 2019-02-02. Retrieved 2019-09-24.
^Heintz, Lauryn. "Alberta's Balzac Billy predicts six more weeks of winter". calgary.citynews.ca. Rogers Media. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
^"The Alberta 'groundhog' Balzac Billy just predicted having a long winter". curiocity.com. Curiocity. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
BalzacBilly is the "Prairie Prognosticator", a man-sized groundhog mascot who prognosticates weather on Groundhog Day. He lives in Balzac, Alberta, 8...
place the groundhog's accuracy between 35% and 41%. BalzacBilly, the official groundhog of Balzac, Alberta, Canada Buckeye Chuck, the official groundhog...
Rehabilitation Centre. BalzacBilly is the "Prairie Prognosticator", a man-sized groundhog mascot who prognosticates weather on Groundhog Day from Balzac, Alberta....
will not be scared to come out of its burrow and winter will soon end. BalzacBilly Fred la marmotte General Beauregard Lee Punxsutawney Phil Shubenacadie...
Baudelaire, Vladimir Nabokov, Molière, Franz Kafka, Albert Camus, Honoré de Balzac, Jean Cocteau, and most French existentialist philosophers. Morrison soon...
Caricature French France 1830–1843 Charles Philipon, Louis Desnoyers, Honoré de Balzac, Grandville Weekly Paper Satire CARtoons Magazine English US Ca. 1959–1991...
remix album by The Creatures Hybrid Black, the 2019 12th studio album by Balzac Hybrid (Collie Buddz album), a 2019 reggae, hip-hop album by Collie Buddz...
half-siblings: half-sister Roxane and half-brother Jean. She has two sons, Billy (b. 2011) and Alfred (b. 2012), with her musician boyfriend Philippe Katerine...
Chesbro Random House Audio 1997 Ticktock Dean Koontz Random House Audio 2002 Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Dai Sijie Random House Audio 2019 The...
(older) Anna and the King Anna Leonowens Jodie Foster Balzac: A Life of Passion Honoré de Balzac Gérard Depardieu Boys Don't Cry Brandon Teena Hilary Swank...
McGregor, Rich Buckler, Billy Graham, Stan Lee, Jack Kirby The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch The Black Sheep by Honoré de Balzac The Black Tulip by Alexandre...
contributed to the production of literature among certain writers, such as Wolfe, Balzac, Flaubert and John Cheever. Perhaps the most famous fictional depiction...
Principles of Geology Auguste Comte – The Positive Philosophy Honoré de Balzac – Père Goriot; Eugenie Grandet Ralph Waldo Emerson – Representative Men;...
even music, through Verismo opera. This movement was led by France, with Balzac and Flaubert in literature and Courbet in painting; Stendhal and Goya were...
epic telling of the Battle of Waterloo. Adieu is a novella by Honoré de Balzac in which can be found a short description of the French retreat from Russia...
followed, both forming in 1980. Other notable Japanese hardcore bands include Balzac, Bomb Factory, Disclose (a D-beat band), Garlic Boys, Gauze, SOB, and the...
increasingly severe pain and had been declared inoperable. The last book he read, Balzac's La Peau de chagrin, prompted reflections on his own increasing frailty...
Mademoiselle Striptease (1956), a French import also distributed as Please! Mr. Balzac. Maid in Paris (1956), a French import. Mitsou (1956), a French import....
Story of Time Roger G. Leffingwell Two-Reel Nature's Half Acre Walt Disney Balzac Les Films du Compass Danger Under the Sea Tom Mead 1952 (25th) One-Reel...
Global Information