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What do woolly worms, August mists and persimmons have in common?
These are folk tale subjects used to predict the coming winter.
Although folk tales differ depending on whether they are told, they are all rooted in a similar truth.
The stories of woolly worms, also known as woolly bears, began in 1948 when Dr. Howard C. Curran, curator of insects at the American Museum of Natural History, decided to study caterpillars and discovered that many of his test subjects had large orange stripes. , according to the Farmers Almanac. The bands were correlated with a milder than average winter.
Curran reportedly passed his findings on to a reporter and his findings were published in the New York Herald Tribune.
While many believe that an all-black woolly worm is a predictor of a harsh winter, the Farmers’ Almanac cautions against the hypothesis because the color indicates that the worm is not the particular caterpillar species. which can be used to make predictions.
If you see a woolly worm, here is what it can tell you:
A woolly worm with a thin orange stripe indicates a snowy winter; if it has a wide orange stripe, it means that the winter will be mild. If it looks blurrier than normal, it could be an indicator of a cold winter ahead.
While the story behind the fogs in August is unclear, it is considered by many to be a natural predictor of winter snowfall.
Folklore goes: for every fog in August there will be a snowfall.
Light fog can mean light snow, but thick fog can indicate heavier snow.
According to Farmers’ Almanac, the history of fogs in August, like many weather forecasting methods, is rooted in careful observations.
A final method of forecasting the coming winter may be more difficult to use locally.
The shape inside persimmon seeds, called the cotyledon, has been used to predict the weather to come.
According to the Farmers’ Almanac, a fork shape can mean a mild winter, but a spoon shape can mean there will be a lot of snow. A knife-shaped cotyledon may indicate a “knife cut”, cold winter.
The trick to persimmon folklore is that persimmon must be grown locally if it is to be used as a forecasting tool.
Persimmons purchased from large chains or retail stores are often not grown locally.
So many different tales exist to help predict the season ahead. With fall officially here, my family and I have started our official woolly worm count (we’re down to three thin orange striped worms) and remember the fogs of August.
Let me know what other winter prediction stories you’ve grown up with as the season approaches!
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