Winter Predications

[cknmom]

Here in central CA, if acorns or pinecones fall quickly/ lots at a time/ early it will be a harsh, wet winter. When I wait for DGD at the busstop, I hear constant pinecones falling. On our ranch and BIL's ranch an hr45min away squirrels hve been stripping the petals off all the pinecones as soon as they fall. At BIL's they have taken all the acorns also. They are storing up big time!

DH noticed the first year we were here that when the rabbits and jacks are out in force most of the day, there is a storm coming in, watch the rabbits!

We have talked about how early the leaves are changing this year here also.

Monica

 

[roosmom]

LOL, I have a prediction........I predict that my chickens, son and hubby are going to drive me batty this winter.

 

[2dream]

Here it is the catapilar thing too. Black means bad winter and this year they are black. But then they were black last year and winter was not that bad. But then in Mississippi, its never bad. The occasional ice storm every few years or the occasional trace amount of snow. Funny, two snowflakes can fall here and schools close, govt. bldgs close and people flock to the grocery store like we are going to be snowed in for the rest of the winter.

 

[user251]

I dont know if its a prediction or not but this year i noticed the ants were going up in the trees but i didnt see many coming back down. I also noticed right before hurricane Ike came through (heavy rain for nearly a week) they did the same thing. I hope its not an indication of snow depth, in Dixie it would shut us down completely. My gut says its gonna be rough and really cold, that's why i cut extra wood this year.

 

[cknmom]

We are making sure we have plenty of wood also. I have heard of the thing with ants before, haven't checked it out myself though.

Monica

 

[Henrietta23]

Here we go by the woolly bear caterpillars too. The more black, the more snow. If the squirrel thing is correct we're doomed here in the north east. They're everywhere and almost every one I see has a nut in its mouth. I don't recall ever seeing them this active.

 

[user251]

do the amount of nuts mean anything? we've had a huge nut crop this year and it was supposed to be an off year for acorns and nuts in my area.

 

[VT-Chicklit]

This year I have seen more wooly bear caterpillars than usual. The are marching across my yard and driveway. I cant go outside without seeing at least one or two that are on the move to their winter hiding place. The width if the black to the brown on the caterpillars seems to be equal, so I dont know what that means as a prediction.

 

[johnElarue]

Here they say if there are many stinkbugs the winter will be harsh.
They've been few this year due to the relatively dry summer and cool fall. Also very few caterpillars chomping on my poplars...hmmmm...we'll see

 

[enjoy the ride]

I used to look at wooly bears too until I read something that wooley bear band width are based on its age. So I guess if you are looking at even bands on one, it just means it older yet hasn't cacooned for winter - maybe that's because the winter's milder so far?

Anyway I know that fuzzy on horses means squat as I have have sweating, overfuzzed horses many times over the years. I think fuzz on animals has more to do with hours of sun light during their fur growth time.