Wooly worms and winter weather

[Smart Red]

Until today, every wooly worm I saw was crossing the road in front of me at 55 miles per hour. That's not the best way to determine what colors are where.

Today I finally found a real wooly walking along side of me. Here's the weather forecaster I found here.

According to this 'pillar, the winter should be a mild one. However, the road worms seemed much darker than this one. So, had anyone else checked out the wooly worms? Lots of dark means cold winter, mostly light brown means mild.

 

[thistlebloom]

I don't know a thing about wooly worms, so I'll believe whatever you tell me.

I just wanted to say what nice new avatar you have!

 

[Carol Dee]

I agree with thistle. Love the new avatar! I have not even seen on wooly worm yet. Now I will be looking for sure.

 

[canesisters]

LOVE the new look Red!
Same as you, I don't think I've seen one other than on the road. We call them Wolly Bears here.
(hoping for a mild winter and an early Spring)

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

We call them Wooly "Bears" here. I haven't payed them much attention this year. In the past I have found this way of forecasting weather to be unreliable or not completely true, somewhat like that "moss only grows on the north side of a tree" thing (don't ever rely on that if you get lost, it doesn't work), each caterpillar had different amounts of black and light brown.

Still though, it's not like the Woolies are any less reliable than the actual weather station.

Agree with everybody else - nice avatar!

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Oh good, so we're not the only ones that call them Wooly Bears. I thought that it was a family rather than regional thing.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I called them wooly bears too growing up in East Tennessee. Haven't heard that in a long time though.

I'll use persimmon seeds for my predictions. If you carefully shave a slick hard seed (keep band aids handy) you will see either a spoon, knife, or fork. A spoon means you will be shoveling a lot of snow. A knife means it will be cold, the wind will cut through you like a knife. A fork means a mild winter, not too cold or too much snow. I can't remember the symbolism for the fork, just that it is a mild winter.

 

[AMKuska]

I have only seen one wooly worm here, and it was all black. Cute little feller.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Part of the issue is that there are several different species of moth with wooly bear like larvae and they vary a LOT in coat color and pattern. For example the only Wooly Bear I have seen so far this year had fur that was more or less dead WHITE (maybe very, very pale blonde) What does that mean, a winter so bad that the area will freeze solid? What it actually means is "wrong species try again."

 

[Smart Red]

Part of the issue is that there are several different species of moth with wooly bear like larvae and they vary a LOT in coat color and pattern. For example the only Wooly Bear I have seen so far this year had fur that was more or less dead WHITE (maybe very, very pale blonde) What does that mean, a winter so bad that the area will freeze solid? What it actually means is "wrong species try again."

I have seen several of the white/ecru ones this year. Never saw them before, but again I never figured they were the same family of wooly bears.