*Notice: this thread is about folklore. There is no need for scientific debunking. *
While my dog was studying her p-mail on a corner rock, I saw a wooly bear caterpillar making its way across the street. The brown band in the middle was about 1/3 of the critter’s length, but the “fur” didn’t look very long. I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean about the coming weather.
My favorite is that when pine trees shed an unusual amount of needles, look for heavy snows in the winter.
You folks in warmer places surely have your own predictors. What tells you what kind of weather to expect?
My Cat Velcro is 14 now. Around this time of year she grows an extra thick coat if it is going to be a cold winter. Over the last 10 years, she had been right 9 out of ten years. So far it looks like this will not be a bad winter coming up in Central Jersey.
Had you been in the Ohio town of Vermilion on October 15, you could have attended the Woolly Bear Festival. I remember this event from my years growing up around Cleveland, as TV weatherman Dick Goddard promoted the celebration during his segments on the local news. This article gives some pseudo-meteorological insight:
Any day I decide to wear any of the following - suede boots, silk shirt, new sandals, anything white or cream colored - it will rain or snow. Badly and muddily.
Mom sometimes says, with an air that makes me think of Granny Og, “a red sunset brings a pink sunrise” (won’t rain tomorrow if today the clouds don’t hide the sun as it sets).
Jet steams from high flying airplanes. If they stay for a long time, the upper atmosphere is stable, and the weather should remain clear for a couple days. If it disappears quickly, change is coming.
The old Coastie who gave me my Captain’s license taught me that one, and from what I’ve seen, it’s been right.
