Every Feb. 2, we gather around a famous rodent in Pennsylvania and pretend his shadow can tell us how much winter we have left. As a former meteorologist, I’ve never put much stock in a groundhog forecasting our future. Atmospheric science is a little more complicated than that.

Still, Groundhog Day does serve one useful purpose: it reminds us that winter, no matter how stubborn, is closer to the end than the beginning.