Folklore for predicting weather

[Taffy]

I know there is folklore for reading natural signs in the environment to predict what type of season an area will have. Such as a large amount of acorns. I wondered what other "clues" there are for up north and down south. Anyone want to share? When I teach a unit on weather, to my kids, I want to include these signs.
Thanks
taffy

[Texas SpeedDiva]

A few that I always heard of from my grandparents (who lived on a farm) in Central Texas and tend to go by are:

Heavier than normal coats on outside animals is supposed to be an indicator of a cold winter.

An excessive amount of spiders and spider webs during the summer/early fall is supposed to be an indicator of a cold winter.

You got the large crop of acorns and the squirrls storing them earlier than normal. As in this year they were busy in September instead of late Oct/Nov like normal.

[Miss Mary]

Take or leave this info: The Laura Ingalls Wilder novel, The Long Winter, stated that muskrat dams with very thick walls indicated a cold winter. There were more signs in that book too. My kids and I liked all of the LIW books but the Long Winter got us excited for snow (which so rarely happens now)! It was our must-read book to start the season. Bear in mind the book was written when she was a child but critics of the book state that that particular year 1880-81, the Dakota terrority received record numbers of blizzards. Lots of folklore in that book.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Winter_(novel)
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/bookse ... 0060581855

[Taffy]

thankyou. I will dig out the book and read it again. Anyone else have any folklore?

[Siberian Express]

The Wooly Bear caterpillar.

Forklore has it that if a wooly bear caterpillar's brown stripe is thick, the winter weather will be mild and if the brown stripes are narrow, the winter will be severe.

[Dionne]

When I still lived in the north (Alaska) it was common for folks to count the number of flowers remaing on a Fireweed stalk....supposedly indicating the number of weeks remaining until the first hard freeze.

[jdray]

http://www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/folklore.htm
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1907272/posts

good list of folklore.


I usually look for spider webs in my garage here in Florida. The more there are, the colder it will get.

[cctxhurricanewatcher]

http://www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/folklore.htm
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1907272/posts

good list of folklore.


I usually look for spider webs in my garage here in Florida. The more there are, the colder it will get.

EWG will like this quote from one of those articles.

"Spiders are also predictors of winter, according to legend. If the cobwebs are bigger than normal or there are more spiders inside the house, they know a bad winter is coming. A web was discovered in Texas this year that's 200 feet wide, but forecasters, to my knowledge, aren't expecting 20-foot snow drifts and sub-zero temps in Houston. "

How is the spider activity in Spring, EWG????

[Texas SpeedDiva]

When I was up in central Texas (west of Waco) about a month ago the old timers and farmers were really talking about all the spider webs and acorns. The women at the Walls outlet store were saying they'd sold more winter coats than hunting gear because people were going on those two items for indicators.

[MCorder]

Same with the Fireweed in Kodiak, it actually predicted the start of winter fairly close this year.
The flower blooms from the bottom up, the it opens all the way to the top it's winter. A few day's later we got our first morning frost and the flowers were dead.

MCorder
Kodiak Alaska

[cheezyWXguy]

http://www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/folklore.htm
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1907272/posts

good list of folklore.


I usually look for spider webs in my garage here in Florida. The more there are, the colder it will get.

EWG will like this quote from one of those articles.

"Spiders are also predictors of winter, according to legend. If the cobwebs are bigger than normal or there are more spiders inside the house, they know a bad winter is coming. A web was discovered in Texas this year that's 200 feet wide, but forecasters, to my knowledge, aren't expecting 20-foot snow drifts and sub-zero temps in Houston. "

How is the spider activity in Spring, EWG????

I know what youre talking about...Ive noticed that these huge cobwebs keep blowing around all the time whenever i go outside...the last time I remember it like this was the winter of the huge 2003 ice storm we had up here in Dallas...great stuff