In the United States, there’s the strange tradition of asking a groundhog to judge whether or not we’ll see spring weather soon, but in Zürich, Switzerland they have another way of determining when winter weather will subside. A way that includes fire, a snowman and dynamite.

Known as the Böögg, the 11-foot-tall snowman is created every year and stuffed with straw, cotton and explosives and placed in the town square to be swallowed by fire. Legend has that the sooner the Böögg’s head explodes, the sooner spring weather will warm the town.

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The Böögg is Zürich, Switzerland’s equivalent of Groundhog Day, attempting to predict when spring will wipe away wintry weather. (Adrian Seitz/Zürich Tourism)

“[The bonfire] is a symbol of the burning of winter,” Victor Rosser, the Central Committee of the Guilds of Zürich's head of communications, told Smithsonian.com. “The Böögg didn’t start out as a snowman, but was a disguised puppet. In German, Böögg roughly translates to ‘bogeyman’ and is a word you use to describe wearing a disguise, like you would when going to a carnival. But over the years the Böögg changed into a snowman, and symbolizes the banishment of Old Man Winter.”

The Böögg demanded credit for an accurate prediction after he called the extremely hot summer of 2003. His head exploded in a record 5 minutes and 42 seconds, according to Zürich.com.

Last year’s Böögg took an underwhelming 20 minutes before the blaze reached the head stuffed with 140 sticks of dynamite.

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Some take the ritual a step further, placing bets on the time it will take for the roasting boogeyman to detonate. Prizes for winners include a two-night stay at the Hotel Platzhirsch or one of 20 ZürichCARDs, which offers unlimited public transportation for 72 hours.

Once the Böögg has charred its explosive head off, locals bring sausages and other meats to barbecue over the snowman’s remains, known as the “after-hour of the Böögg”.

This year’s Böögg doesn’t have many people feeling very confident about the early arrival of warmer weather, taking a record high of 43 minutes and 34 seconds, according to Blick, a Swiss news agency.

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Slovenia's Tina Maze arrives on the finish line after taking third place in the FIS Alpine World Cup Women's Giant Slalom on Dec. 15, 2013 in Saint-Moritz, Switzerland. (OLIVIER MORIN/AFP/Getty Images)