“Squirrels gathering nuts in a flurry,
Will cause snow to gather in a hurry.”
The weather forecasters are telling us we are getting ready to have a preview of winter next week. Cold with maybe some snowflakes. Nothing like this picture that was from a true winter snow in January or February. But a Facebook friend did share a similar picture of snow now from Nova Scotia. But we’re south, way south compared to them.
But winter is coming. It happens every year. And every year we all like to talk about what kind of winter is headed our way. People down through the ages have come up with many ways to forecast that winter weather. Take the woolly worm. If it is all black, the winter is supposed to be horrendous. If it’s brown, the winter is predicted to be mild. The two tone ones suggest a combination. I haven’t seen any woolly worms lately. Hmm, you think that means we won’t have winter at all? I sort of doubt that.
But we have more than woolly worms to help us plan to buy an extra coat or just make do with a sweater.
- For every day of fog in August, there will be a snowfall.
I have heard this one many times, but I’ve never been good at remembering how many fogs we actually had in August. Maybe I should note the August fogs and winter snows on a calendar next year and make a scientific study to prove or disprove this one.
- If the first week in August is unusually warm, the coming winter will be snowy and long.
I’ve never heard this one but I’m guessing August was plenty warm this year so best be ready with your snow shovels. There’s also those persimmon seeds that you are supposed to split open to see a winter forecast. The shape of a spoon means lots of snow. A fork means not so bad and a knife means ice. I think I have that right. I saw a seed someone had split open on Facebook and the spoon shape was obvious. I tried to split a seed but decided my fingers were in danger of being split open instead of the seed. I need my fingers to write my book.
- If a cold August follows a hot July, it foretells a winter hard and dry. (Yes, the rhyme is part of the saying.)
I guess we won’t have that dry winter. I don’t remember anything cold about August.
- Thicker-than-normal corn husks
- Woodpeckers sharing a tree
- Early departure of geese and ducks
- Early migration of the monarch butterfly
- Thick hair on the nape of a cow’s neck
All of these sound reasonable for predicting a hard winter, but I haven’t noticed any of them. The monarchs were around well into fall. I haven’t paid attention to the cows’ necks and I saw some ducks flying over not long ago. Around here I don’t think the woodpeckers will need to share trees. We have plenty to go around out here on the farm.
- Spiders spinning larger-than-usual webs and entering the house in great numbers
- Pigs gathering sticks
- Ants marching in a line rather than meandering
Those are some interesting ones. Especially that pigs gathering sticks. My dad had pigs when I was a kid but if they ever gathered sticks, I didn’t know it. Why in the world would they gather sticks? If any of you have ever heard that old saying, I’d be interested in knowing more about that. Spiders always want in the house when the weather gets cold. We have better houses now than back when this saying got passed around, but when I was a kid, those big old wood spiders did like sneaking into our old farmhouse when the weather turned cold.
Don’t ants always march in a line?
- Unusual abundance of acorns
We do have plenty of acorns. So look out. And you already saw that up top about squirrels gathering the nuts to make it through the winter.
- Frequent halos or rings around the sun or moon forecast numerous snowfalls
This is another one I’ve heard through the years. There’s also a saying about the number of stars inside the ring being the number of days before a rain. I suppose that’s for summer predictions.
All these signs of winter weather to come are fun to notice. There’s even those crickets in a box some people depended on for weather predictions in past years before forecasts were coming through radios and televisions. I tried to look that up and didn’t find about the cricket forecasting the weather but did find that you can actually tell the temperature from listening to a cricket chirp. Guess that works better in the summer. Crickets do like to find a home inside your house when the weather gets cold. Who can blame them? But if you want to try seeing if the cricket knows how hot it is next time you hear a cricket chirping, here’s how to get a ballpark figure for the temperature in Fahrenheit. Count cricket chirps for 15 seconds. Add 37 to the number, and you’ve got a decent estimate of how cold or warm it is outside.
You can learn something new every day.
So I’m ready to learn more. Do you have any nature or folklore weather predicting tricks? And have you seen any woolly worms?
As always, thanks for reading.
(Some of these weather predicting signs came from the Farmers’ Almanac that always seems to predict a hard winter.)
Comments 14
I had not heard about the rings around the moon forecasting snow but it just so happened that here in the very southwest corner of Missouri…the Splitlog Community…close to Goodman, Missouri…that there was a ring around the moon last night…which is almost full…and today we have had ice, snow, and little white, round balls…I think they call them ‘snow pellets’…pelting down on us…and the temperature went from 72 degrees yesterday to 25 degrees a little while ago…and supposed to continue to drop down into the ‘teens’ tonight. I think that I will pay a little more attention to those rings around the moon from now on. :o)
Author
That was fast predicting, Connie. The weather sounds awful and it’s supposed to hit us tonight. We were in the 60’s this afternoon. Not sure how cool it is now but it’s supposed to be cold tomorrow with snow. You can keep the ice and snow pellets. The snow too if you want. I’m not ready for real winter weather. But I guess I should have gone out and looked at the moon last night to see if there was a ring around it.
Since you mention it …we are just now having real cold weather. I remember being outside sometime maybe the end of September and hearing the honking of geese and looking up and seeing the v-formation heading south. I thought at the time it was early for the geese to be heading south. And wondered what that meant, what it indicated concerning winter.
Author
Looks like that sign of winter coming worked anyway, Loretta. I’m still hoping that once we have this winter preview that we’ll ease back into seasonal fall weather. We do often get some winter in November but that doesn’t mean I have to like it, old timey signs or not. 🙂
Thanks for sharing these fun winter wives tales, Ann! 😊 On Groundhog Day, if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, that means two more weeks of winter. However, if Punxsutawney Phil doesn’t see his shadow, that means winter will be two weeks shorter! 😋 ✨Proverbs 25:11-13✨
Author
Around here we usually say it’s 6 more weeks of winter if the groundhog sees his shadow, Emily, and winter’s over if he doesn’t. But I think what usually happens is that we get 6 more weeks of winter either way. lol
I love winter and especially snow. When I was younger I just wanted to be out in it. I like to drive in snow and walk in a big snow at night when you can hear the quiet. Now that I am older, I still like cold snowy winters. We don’t have the snows like I remember from my youth. I have found the best way to tell what kind of we are going to get hear in Kentucky…..especially snow, is to just look out the window. I have been disappointed too many times when the weather men or the almanac promise snow and then nothing comes. No matter what the weather is, a good book and a comfortable chair can take me anywhere I want to go…..even into a blizzard.
Author
Joy, you sound like one of my daughters in law. She’s always hoping for snow. Me, I like one pretty snow a year sometime in February is usually good. 🙂 Then I’m ready for spring. And you are very right about the best way to forecast the weather. That window rarely lies. 🙂
I spotted a white woolly worm recently ….also referred to as the Blizzard woolly worm …so look out for lots of snow here in OH !! We are supposed to get 2-4 inches of the white stuff today and temps falling through the teens . What happened to Indian Summer ?
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I have never heard of a blizzard woolly worm, Nancy. Very interesting. If it means blizzards, I’m sort of glad I’ve never seen one. We are actually supposed to get some measurable snow here. I’m hoping not very measurable. I would prefer Indian summer myself. Indian summer can be the best time of the year.
For th last two years I mark the fog days in August but I only seem to remember to do it for about two weeks! Old age? Perhaps. Anyway I have been accurate with my little experiment here in eastern NC!
Author
That’s interesting, Karen. I think my sister did that one year, but I’m not sure she kept up with the fogs or the times it thundered in January. I think that one means we have frosts in April. Anyway, whichever it was, she said it worked too. I hope I can remember about the crickets next summer so I can see if that does tell the right temperature .
I actually saw my first wolly worm of the season yesterday, Ann. It was a solid dark brown. I don’t put much store in wolly worm predictions though, because I usually see all varieties every autumn. But then again…we usually get all varieties of weather here in Kentucky every winter, so maybe they are good predictors.
I’ve heard of some of your folklore sayings, but that one about the pigs made me laugh!
Maybe I’ll ask my mom about the weather signs in August. She makes a note on her calendar every day, and I’m sure most of her notes could be weather related. I’ll let you know.
One thing is for sure…winter is very unpredictable around here, and whatever it is, there’s no way to change it. It’s definitely not my favorite season, (I don’t like cold at all!), but winter is the season for family gatherings and that’s always wonderful. And how much would we appreciate the warm sunny days of summer, without the cold days of winter? 😉
Enjoy your week, Ann…I’ll see you Saturday! (Wouldn’t it be grand if a group of these friends on this page could get together at the Book Fair?)
Author
You’re so right, Lavon. We do get all kinds of weather here in Kentucky. They have that saying that if you don’t like the weather, wait until tomorrow. I think we are going to be ready to get on to the tomorrow tomorrow. Does that make sense? LOL. But I am glad they aren’t forecasting snow on Saturday. That would be very unfortunate for us writers and readers. I’ll look forward to seeing you at the Book Fair and hope to see other friends there too.