Not good:
If you believe The Old Farmer’s Almanac, the longer the middle brown band on a woolly worm, the shorter and milder the coming winter. The shorter the brown band, the longer and snowier. According to studies (yes, really, there have been studies) woolly worms are close or completely right 57% of the time.
This one doesn’t even HAVE a brown band! ALL BLACK.
I think I’m scared.
How are the woollies looking this year in your area?
Jersey Lady says:
Oh my,this is not good! I almost don’t want to tell you all, but I will: My cousin in Iowa saw an all black woolly worm too. Let’s hope there are a lot of mainly brown woolies out there and these two are just mutants or something.
On November 7, 2011 at 1:40 am
lauren says:
I’m in Southwest VA and found one a couple of weeks ago that was all black also. not looking good!
On November 7, 2011 at 5:50 am
CATRAY44 says:
I have been finding all black ones here in S. Michigan, too, lol.
On November 7, 2011 at 6:57 am
Valleyroots says:
All black here in the northeast part of WV also! According to the National Weather Service we’re supposed to have heavy snow this winter. Yay, right?
On November 7, 2011 at 7:17 am
BuckeyeGirl says:
Oh MY! That IS terrible!!! Ours mostly have very wide brown middles, I hope that solid black Wooly Worm is just an anomaly! Please tell me you’re finding other ones with at least SOME brown on them?
On November 7, 2011 at 7:21 am
rurification says:
We saw an all brown one last week. Southern Indiana. As nice as a mild winter would be, we need the hard freeze and low temps to kill the bugs and a massive infestation of yellow poplar scale. I’m hoping your caterpillars are more right than ours.
On November 7, 2011 at 7:27 am
AsTheNight says:
We live in Ritchie County, WV. Saturday we saw a woolly on our front step. It was all black.
On November 7, 2011 at 8:11 am
Pete says:
Have only seen three so far – two all black, and one with just a very small touch of brown. Not looking good here either!
Thanks for the reminder of what it means!
On November 7, 2011 at 8:14 am
broncobetsy says:
I think that’s a different kind from the traditional orange and black ones. Does that one have an orange body you can see when you stretch it out?? The orange (brown) and black one’s I’ve seen have been pretty average, though I do hear that la nina is going to dump the snow and cold on us this year!
On November 7, 2011 at 8:20 am
Suzanne McMinn says:
broncobetsy, yes, I could the orange on the body when it stretched, but no orange fur, just black!
On November 7, 2011 at 8:30 am
WV Sue says:
Here around Parkersburg, WV we have been strangely polluted with these little woolly worms . I have even gotten the broom out to sweep them off of the porch and carport area because of trying to step around them. Very weird. I cannot say that they are colored more one way or the other though. Here it is into November and I’m loving the extended sunshine and warmer days. I have a feeling when winter hits we’re going to be slammed though.
On November 7, 2011 at 8:21 am
Cheryl LeMay says:
Those all black ones are probably another species and not wooley bears.Keep looking. I try to look at as many as possible for a consensus since they vary.Ours have a wide brown band but some have a wider black band in front than behind.Does that mean the first half of winter will be more like normal and the last half will be mild? Some have only a small amount of black on both ends.So there seems to be a differnce of opinion.I guess time will tell. I’ve heard their accuracy is more like 85%.
On November 7, 2011 at 8:28 am
Donna says:
They’re totally black and really, really big over here in Mason County… I mean REALLY BIG! :dancingmonster:
On November 7, 2011 at 8:30 am
IowaCowgirl says:
Ours are all black and wearing little parkas, wristers, mittens and balaclavas. Is this ominous?
On November 7, 2011 at 8:32 am
Heather B says:
My sister was in Kentucky near WV recently and she found an all black one there, too. We don’t have them around us. Actually, I’ve never seen one around here in all the 21 years I’ve been back.
On November 7, 2011 at 8:41 am
ashmmorgan2 says:
I found one last week that had the widest brown band I’d ever seen! I’m over in eastern Nebraska though. Hopefully your wooly worm is defective 🙂
On November 7, 2011 at 9:21 am
Donna says:
Whew! I think we’re going to be O.K. over here in Mason County… just found this little guy (gal?) out in my garden (https://www.wvcpaweb.org/images/worm.jpg). I can feel it – it’s nearly Spring already! :clover:
On November 7, 2011 at 9:35 am
mackenzie93 says:
IowaCowGirl, love the balaclavas! I envy you your fashionable woolly worms. We, alas, don’t have them here at all, with or without parkas, but this is Chicago and we’ve been told that we’re going to have a very snowy and cold winter. Not exactly looking forward to that.
On November 7, 2011 at 9:40 am
ladybird_1959 says:
I haven’t seen any in the Kenna area yet, but my daughter sent me a picture of one from the Sissonville area and it was all black. Bundle up, bring in the wood and settle in for a long winter…Oh wait, I can’t do that! I work and have to get out of the “holler” every day.
On November 7, 2011 at 9:52 am
outbackfarm says:
I have not seen a single wooly worm here. Not one. So what does that mean?
On November 7, 2011 at 10:05 am
City Kid in St. Paul says:
I saw whole herds (flocks? fleets? platoons??) of wooly bears in September with varying widths of brown bands. They were southbound on the walking trail and pulling wheeled suitcases.
On November 7, 2011 at 10:45 am
Cousin Sheryl says:
LOL! “Southbound and pulling wheeled suitcases.” “Wearing parkas, mittens…”
You folks are just too funny! I needed a good giggle today. Thanks! :clover:
On November 7, 2011 at 12:43 pm
Almost Heaven, WV says:
I’m in Greenbrier Co., WV and I saw one yesterday that was equal measurements of black and brown.
On November 7, 2011 at 1:47 pm
mamawolf says:
I haven’t seen any wooly bears here, just wooly mountain people and I don’t think they would count because they are wooly year round! Love the comments about parkas, etc and migrating with their sutcaises.
Too too funny. 😆
On November 7, 2011 at 2:02 pm
marybeth7362 says:
I read your blog today, and was thinking I haven’t seen a woolly worm in 25 years or longer. A few minutes later, on my way out the back door, there was a woolly on the steps! How weird is that? Mine did have a brown band in the middle, but as I haven’t seen them in years, not sure how to relate his brown band to our upcoming winter in Oregon.
On November 7, 2011 at 3:29 pm
Linda Goble says:
I had one with a big band on thank goodness but sorry for him I didn’t see it until it was to late and he met his maker with my foot. I felt so bad. 😥
On November 7, 2011 at 4:02 pm
anitalee says:
In Northern Ohio we have an Annual Woollybear Parade and Festival, this year was the39th year for the festival.
Well over 100,000 people descended upon our small town this year for the one day event.
We even have a Woollybear 500 caterpillar race; all woollybears have to be inspected by the judges to make sure that they are real wollybears, “It has a rust-colored ban, no all black caterpillars.” I remember standing in a line that was over two blocks long with my granddaughter to have her woollybear inspected for the race.
This year, over 2,000 people participated in the parade and it usually last for two hours or longer
On November 7, 2011 at 8:39 pm
sophanne says:
20miles north of morgantown in Waynesburg PA and I’ve seen 4 all black ones in the last three weeks. Props to Iowacowgirl for cracking me up!
On November 7, 2011 at 8:42 pm
Yankee in NC says:
SE NC also has sightings of all black woolies!!!!!
I moved here from CT to get away form the smow so I hope that they are wrong this year!
On November 8, 2011 at 7:08 am
Yankee in NC says:
hee hee…s’cuse the poor typing skills above!
On November 8, 2011 at 7:09 am
Miss Judy says:
We’ve seen very few this year and what we have seen are all black! I am wondering if these are true wolly bears. I am starting to see the ladybugs too! None had suitcases so maybe things aren’t going to be too bad! 😉
On November 8, 2011 at 8:07 am
Rainla says:
We had a dead all black one on our front porch on Halloween. :jackolantern: I remember thinking hmmmm this can’t be a good sign! :snowman: Location here is Piedmont North Carolina.
On November 8, 2011 at 8:11 am
Granny Trace says:
I love your woolie worm reports. It was right last year.
Jeeez ours are black too..I am scared.
On November 8, 2011 at 12:25 pm
WvSky says:
I don’t know about Wooly Worms, but as an avid bird watcher for 30 years, I can tell you that the birds have been eating AND storing food like I haven’t seen them do in years. For instance: My Red Breasted Woodpeckers have spent the last 3 weeks, carrying one seed at a time, from morning to night, hiding them. Other signs of stepped-up activity (much more so than normal for this time of year) tells me that we’re finally looking at a doozy of a winter.
On November 8, 2011 at 10:49 pm
WvSky says:
Update: In today’s WV newspaper….”The 18.4 inches of snow that fell in the Charleston area last December was the third-highest accumulation ever for the area. Another 12.7 inches fell in January, but just a few inches fell in February and March.
Highways officials have been working with National Weather Service meteorologists to plan for snow and ice removal. Forecasters are predicting a repeat of last year.
“We’ve looked at some of the long-range forecasts for winter,” said Kyle Stollings, director of maintenance for the Division of Highways.
“They’re telling us to look for a very similar weather pattern as what we had last year – which is pretty regular heavy, wet snow in December and January.”
On November 9, 2011 at 7:24 am
Jenn777 says:
Here in Oxford, OH have seen many woolys on the go, usually across the road? But not much traffic we can dodge them. Sorry to report majority solid black. The almanac did say it was going to be exceptionally cold and windy this winter. 🙁 Booo!
Jenn
On November 9, 2011 at 9:09 am
MalagaCove says:
Suzanne,
I had two woolly bears early this spring, and they were all black too! I told DH that I was scared, just like you. I saw mine over a month ago now.
We’re in Southern NH.
Judi
On November 10, 2011 at 2:06 pm
MalagaCove says:
Sorry, that shuld have been “…early this FALL” not spring. Talk about wishful thinking, jeez!
Judi
On November 10, 2011 at 2:14 pm
cecramp says:
The little fellas I’ve seen have been all black.
On November 21, 2011 at 7:19 pm
twiggityNDgoats says:
OMG Suzanne!!! We’re so happy you have landed on your feet on such a great farm. We actually went to look at that farm last year when it was listed and it was fabulous but it was not quite for us. I’m now sure the sister was right…it was waiting for YOU! Congratulations on your new life.
On November 24, 2011 at 6:25 am