There are a lot of old wives’ tales about how to predict a harsh winter during the fall. A lot of them are ridiculous and wrong, but these ones here… These ones here are tried and true, 100%, bet your bottom dollar:
20 SIGNS of a BIG WINTER IN 2013/14
- Thicker than normal corn husks
- Woodpeckers sharing a tree
- Early arrival of the Snowy owl
- Early departure of geese and ducks
- Early migration of the Monarch butterfly
- Thick hair on the nape (back) of the cow’s neck
- Heavy and numerous fogs during August
- Raccoons with thick tails and bright bands
- Mice eating ravenously into the home
- Early arrival of crickets on the hearth
- Spiders spinning larger than usual webs and entering the house in great numbers
- Pigs gathering sticks
- Insects marching a bee line rather than meandering
- Early seclusion of bees within the hive
- Unusual abundance of acorns
- Muskrats burrowing holes high on the river bank
- “See how high the hornet’s nest, ‘twill tell how high the snow will rest”
- Narrow orange band in the middle of the Woollybear caterpillar warns of heavy snow
- The squirrel gathers nuts early to fortify against a hard winter
- Frequent halos or rings around sun or moon forecast numerous snow falls
Ice storms aren’t cool. All of these factual winter forecasting tools come from our friends at the Farmers Almanac:
“Ok, the Farmers’ Almanac prediction for a Numbingly Cold winter is out, but what are the real experts saying? A wonderful friend of Ray Geiger, ( Cleveland weather guru – Dick Goddard) put together a laundry list of “signs” of nature. We featured these in the 1978 edition and it is still relevant today.” – Farmers Almanac
There’s an acorn mine field on my way to campus… I keep waiting to get knocked by one of those suckers on my way to class. Must mean good things for this winter according to reason #15. 😀
Geese have been flying North around here lately. What does that mean?
Mice are always eating ravenously into my home.
I’ve seen some narrow orange bands on the caterpillars…