Today, I saw an orange woolly bear while I was running through the streets of Factoryville. It had no black stripes at all. Technically, scientists call the woolly bear's orange, brown. There are two ways to determine the upcoming winter via the woolly bear or fuzzy wuzzy. The darker the black stripe(s) the colder the winter and the more orange on the bug the milder the winter will be.
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| Do Woolly Bears Predict Winter? |
Now for the truth: the older the woolly bear the wider the black stripe and the darker the entire caterpillar will be. Some stripes are orange and some do indeed look brown due to that age of the caterpillar. The color and stripes of the woolly bear is not a predictive model it is an indicative model. The previous winter dictates the color and size of the stripes along with age. Even the woolly bear ages.
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| An Older Woolly Bear |
While I do not store an incredible amount of faith in the prediction of our winter season from the stripes of the woolly bear, I do like the tradition. I am totally in love with Ground Hogs Day and the movie just about made that day perfect. Gobblers Knob, PA has nothing on Banner Elk, NC. On the third weekend in October, Banner Elk, NC has a Woolly Worm Festival with over 20,000 people in attendance. Anyone interested in a woolly bear race?
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| A Predictor of Spring? |
Whether you follow NOAH, woolly bears or the Farmer’s Almanac, winter is only a season away. What is your prediction?
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