Friday, October 21, 2016

Indications of the coming winter

While cutting wood in my yard yesterday, I was impressed by the abundance of acorns falling around me.  My driveway also seems to have more acorns than usual in it.  That led me to wonder about other things that may or may not be indications of the severity of the coming winter.

Pursuant to that end, I ran across this in my recent issue of  Farmers' Almanac. You can read this list and decide for yourself.

Here are the 20 Signs of A Hard Winter:
  1. Thicker than normal corn husks
  2. Woodpeckers sharing a tree
  3. Early arrival of the Snowy owl
  4. Early departure of geese and ducks
  5. Early migration of the Monarch butterfly
  6. Thick hair on the nape (back) of the cow’s neck
  7. Heavy and numerous fogs during August
  8. Raccoons with thick tails and bright bands
  9. Mice eating ravenously into the home
  10. Early arrival of crickets on the hearth
  11. Spiders spinning larger than usual webs and entering the house in great numbers
  12. Pigs gathering sticks
  13. Insects marching in a line rather than meandering
  14. Early seclusion of bees within the hive
  15. Unusual abundance of acorns
  16. Muskrats burrowing holes high on the river bank
  17. “See how high the hornet’s nest, ‘twill tell how high the snow will rest”
  18. Narrow orange band in the middle of the Woolly bear caterpillar warns of heavy snow; fat and fuzzy caterpillars presage bitter cold
  19. The squirrel gathers nuts early to fortify against a hard winter
  20. Frequent halos or rings around the Sun or Moon forecast numerous snow falls.

No comments: