Found this forecaster today, and close examination of the specimen seems to be saying that we should have a fairly mild winter, with a cold spring. This forecast would only be for my local area. Your mileage may vary....as do the markings of your woolly bear caterpillars.
Actually, it looks a lot like the woolly bear I saw last year. However, there have been years when I have observed woolly bears looking totally black, and the winter was severe. Maybe there is some truth to the folklore....or perhaps like some experiments indicate, the color and size of the woolly bear's stripes are due to where it lives and what it eats.
At any rate, I have more fun watching the woolly bear than the weather channel...and none of it will matter, come next spring when Isa Isabella will emerge.
6 comments:
A mild winter, even fairly mild would be nice, even if spring is colder. I must keep my eyes open for a woolly bear caterpillar. I like your comment that you "have more fun watching the woolly bear than the weather channel." "woolly bully" has me remembering Sam the Sham & the Pharoahs' song...
Observing nature is much more interesting than watching the weather channel. Indications by the height of hornet nests around here this summer are that the snows will be very high this coming winter.
Haven't seen any woolly bears around here yet this fall. Judging by the horses that are already putting on a winter coat, I think ours may be a cold one.
We have a race of totally black wooly bears here at the house, but the ones that do have the brown 'fur' look like yours. Hope they're right!
I've always found that I have better luck forcasting the immediate weather with "red in the morning sailors take warning, red at night sailors delight" than watching the weather channel. When I was in college for engineering I remember one professor telling us that the saying has some basis in fact. At the time he had explained something about how the atmospheric pressure holds down the particals in the air and makes for a redness in the sunrise or sunset. Something like that but basically that the saying actually makes some sense.
I haven't seen any woolly worms here in Ky yet, as of Oct 4th. That surprises me as I usually turn up alot while doing fall chores. I can not see any difference in them from year to year, one just looks like the next.
However, I do have years where I see the all black ones, and other years when I do not see any of that color. I have wondered if that particular breed has a different cycle than the common black and orange. If I see the all black ones, it is along with the orange and black, it is not that the common ones have bred all black that year.
For what it's worth our local forecasters have predicted an 'easy' winter for our area. Isn't 'easy winter' an oxymoron?
Cindy
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