From the February 5, 1943 edition of the Vineyard Gazette:

Although Groundhog Day brought some slight variation in the weather program, the celebrated woodchuck experienced no difficulty in seeing his shadow, and this, if the ancient belief can be credited, winter is by no means over. Groundhog, or Candlemas, Day, is supposed to mark mid-winter, when the older people would check their winter stores to see if there remained,

“Half of the meant and half of they hay,” and watch the weather for the portents in which they believed. For, as they said: