The month of August is rapidly coming to a close... after today, there are only 3 more days left and then we open up the month of September and while the temps are still like summer, we are heading into the fall and more than likely a cold winter...
I saw a woolly bear today while I was walking and tried to remember what my grandmother said about it being a precursor for a hard or mild winter...
Woolly Bear Folklore:
According to folklore, the amount of black on the woolly bear in autumn varies proportionately with the severity of the coming winter in the locality where the caterpillar is found. The longer the woolly bear's black bands, the longer, colder, snowier, and more severe the winter will be. Similarly, the wider the middle brown band is associated with a milder upcoming winter. The position of the longest dark bands supposedly indicates which part of winter will be coldest or hardest. If the head end of the caterpillar is dark, the beginning of winter will be severe. If the tail end is dark, the end of winter will be cold. In addition, the woolly bear caterpillar has 13 segments to its body, which traditional forecasters say correspond to the 13 weeks of winter.
Personally, I don't think much of folklore although at times it seems to be a pretty good predictor... still... folklore is folklore... is it not?
What I do know... is that for the past several years, the months of September, October, November, and December in the Valley have been relatively mild temperature wise and that January, February, and March have been typically cold months with some years being colder than others...
In this valley we can pretty much count on 12-15 weeks of cold weather before it feels like spring has returned and we can start wearing our tennis shoes and sandals again. These 12-15 weeks can include December as well as April... as winter tends to flip-flop once in a while.
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