The Wooly Worm Prediction (home, living in, law)

[AliceT]

I am getting such an education in WV! Before moving here, I had never seen a hummingbird. Ever. Since moving here, i go through about 100# of sugar making syrup to feed them all - and still run out of funds for hummingbird meals earlier than I feel I should.

And now... as friends were visiting with me, they found a Wooly Worm and declared we would have a hard winter this year. Huh? They enlightened me.

The little guy that they found was almost completely black with 4 barely visible brown bands in the middle. You really had to look hard to see them - even with the worm rolled into his protective ball.

Woolly Worm.com | WoollyWorm.com

Hmmm. A hard winter. I like the sound of that. I'm looking forward to it. C'mon WV, show me your version of a hard winter!

[kookamus]

I have found no corellation between the wooly worms color and the type of winter we have. FYI the farmers almanac says we will have a bad winter too. In fact i hear that we will have a bad winter every year so sooner or later it will be. Probably be a good idea to prepare just in case.

[David Kennedy]

Our resident expert on the Wooly Bear is Millersangel...as for the weather prediction...its a kind of reverse osmosal phenom....in the northern part of Wv...an almost entirely black worm means almost no winter, whereas in the sounthern part of Wv...it means the opposite...and this can be reversly porportional to a region or a county in particular...
What I've found to be very certain is the native opinion of the description and the effect of local lore and legend...these vary too, and it would seem that wherever you reside that local opinion would hold sway and effect its cause...

I hope I've made myself crystal clear on this issue...and no, the 'wooly black bear is not a significant animal to Wv...but it is an insect of great porportion in intellect and discussion...always at this time of the year...Ours our black and brown this this year...mild or horiffic early Winter...followed by a mild or horiffic Spring...

Daylight savings ends next week...remember that, please.

[harborlady]

I saw two of them in the past 3 weeks but I can't remember if either of them were all black. Had burgundy brown mixed colors I think. Very odd version of weather prediction but I suppose it beats paying Miss Cleo. Farmers almanac has better odds than the stock market LOL.

Reading wooly bears sounds like russian ladies reading tea leaves. I have no idea what any of it means. Think I'll stick with Kooks advice.

[r601020]

I have no idea what a wooly worm is, but I do have ladybugs on my porch.

Brother in law from Kentucky was visiting, noted the color of deer, that old timers would say that means a hard winter. So I looked up what the farmer's almanac had to say . .

"November will have above-normal temperatures, on average, followed by an exceptionally cold December. After a welcome mid-January thaw, temperatures will be colder than normal in February and March. The coldest periods will be in mid-December, early January, and early February. Precipitation will be near normal in the east and above normal in the west, with above-normal snowfall nearly everywhere. Expect snowfall in time for Thanksgiving, frequent snow in December, and additional snowfalls from January to mid-February."
2009 Ohio Valley Long-Range Weather Forecast and Prediction - The Old Farmer's Almanac

[AliceT]

David, I think I am beginning to understand you. That's scary.

[Janipoo]

I have seen black ones so far. My mothers says that means a hard winter.

A cute story about black woolly worms, We were outside and I was cutting my husbands hair (which is black) and my son starting yelling that his hair was moving and when we looked down there was a black woolly worm moving amongst the black hair. It was pretty funny at the time but when ever we see a woolly worm we declare that his hair is on the move again.

[YankeeCajun]

Where I am now in Eastern PA, the Wooly Worms are almost all back too. I commented to a few of my older lady friends and they said that you can't tell anything by the wooly worm. Now, the pinecones on the trees are heavy this year. That means to expect a hard winter. After living in New Orleans for ten years I am looking forward to winter (sort of). The thought of a HARD winter scares the daylights out of me!

[harborlady]

Yankee just remember that it's all relative. A hard winter to WV'ns isn't on par with minnesota or michigan. Yes, there's a Hell, Michigan, and it does freeze over if the pic's don't lie. I'm thinking minus 40 wind chills & 5 ft of snow would scare 20yrs off of WV'ns. Good thing it's culturally acceptable to stay home for 'severe' weather (4" of snow?). We called them snow days as a kid and those sure are fun.

Not sure if eastern Pa will let you get by on that one, but hey, you're from New Orleans and didn't know.

(tip for the ladies- thermasilk long johns fit nicely even under professional dress attire and really do keep you warmer.)

[x1x]

Another thought on cold winter predictions is to check the hair or fur growth on animals that live outside year around, A heavy growth will mean a cold winter, A normal growth will mean a mild winter.