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, I’m not kidding, there have been studies) woolly worms are close or completely right 57% of the time.
I see more black than brown on this woolly worm who dropped out of the sky onto my manuscript this weekend when I was going over my book. Uh oh…..
Maybe we could do an informal study of our own! Everybody go find a woolly worm in your area…..
Marianne says:
Nearly every wooly bear ‘pillar I’ve seen this year has been almost completely brown. :woof:
I hope it holds true, cuz on the flip side, there are no acorns lying around anywhere — and another tale holds that the squirrels stock up more when there’s a bad winter expected. Last year we had acorns everywhere.
We’ll see who wins, the ‘pillars or the rodents. I’m pulling for the ‘pillars.
On October 10, 2007 at 7:30 am
Biddy says:
We don’t have wooly worms… does that mean England won’t get a winter??
On October 10, 2007 at 7:46 am
MARY says:
:fan: I think it has been too warm, but the only wooly bear I’ve seen was completely black!!! I had forgotten exactly how the brown band thing went, so thanks for the info! Here’s to lots of brown on the wooly bears!! LOL! :thumbsup:
On October 10, 2007 at 7:59 am
Nicole Reising says:
The house is coming along great!
Wooly worms eh? Hmmm we’ve been having unusually warm weather here.
Cole
On October 10, 2007 at 8:03 am
Alice Audrey says:
I haven’t seen any and I’m not looking! I don’t want to know.
On October 10, 2007 at 9:31 am
Kim A. says:
I haven’t seen any, either.
We’ll be in for a long and cold winter, regardless. Even if it turns out to be short and “mild” for this area, it’ll still be too cold and long for me!
-Kim
On October 10, 2007 at 10:24 am
Karen B says:
:flying: Are you kidding? After 87 and humidity high enough to knock you over on Sat in MN I now have my heat on as it’s 43 and gray with strong NW winds. I’m not venturing out today, much less looking for woolly worms………… :talktothehand:
On October 10, 2007 at 11:02 am
Susan says:
The only wooly worm that I have seen, so far, was mostly black. 😮
On October 10, 2007 at 11:19 am
leanne says:
Thats good news to my ears. As little rain we’ve gotten this summer, and constantly running out of water because of it, the more snow the better. I don’t have to work anyway, so it wouldn’t hurt my feelings if I couldn’t get out to go somewhere.(As long as the fridge and freezer were full anyway). :shimmy: Hope everyone has a great day and enjoys the nice fall day.
Leanne :snoopy: :snoopy: :hug:
On October 10, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Estella says:
The only things I’ve seen in the Pacific Northwest is slugs and snails. No wooly worms so far.
On October 10, 2007 at 2:17 pm
catslady says:
I’ll be on the outlook and let you know. Our weather just dropped 25 degrees – autumn has just arrived lol.
On October 10, 2007 at 2:44 pm
Tori Lennox says:
I can’t even remember the last time I’ve seen a wooly worm!
On October 10, 2007 at 3:19 pm
kaye says:
Well, I’m pulling for a mild winter. To me that’s the best kind.
On October 10, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Brandy says:
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a woolly worm. Is that a bad thing, or a good thing?
WE’ve been un-naturally warm here in SC so far, but we should be normal for this time of year by the weekend. I hope. *g*
Have a fun day tomorrow! (I’m late commenting today!)
On October 10, 2007 at 9:12 pm
Lis says:
I haven’t seen a single woolly this year. But the squirrels have been gathering the pine cones off the evergreens since August. Maybe that’s not a good thing lol :catmeow:
On October 11, 2007 at 2:51 pm
LizPA says:
Pennsylvania, brown on both ends =amounts
1/3 brown, 1/3 black, 1/3 brown
The prediction here: mild beginning, 5 snow days, mild end.
On October 14, 2007 at 8:21 am
Tina T. says:
http://www.woollyworm.com festival, in Banner Elk, North Carolina . Races too! Oct 20-21, 2007. Check it out! :shimmy:
On October 16, 2007 at 11:45 am
Sherri says:
We’ve lived in NC for almost 15 years now, and up until last year we’ve watched for the woolies and watched the bands on them. :yes: However, last year we could count on both hands how many woolies we saw … and this year we haven’t seen even one woolie. Last winter was very mild and now this summer we’ve been in a severe drought. I’m hoping the woolies haven’t died out in this area from last of moisture! :no:
On October 18, 2007 at 9:04 pm
Lisa says:
I have been reading a lot about this new pet that my students found. It is the woolly bear!! :clap: They will be very happy to know that we get to keep “George” until spring. “Georges” prediction for Southern Minnesota: we will be looking at a very cold start to winter with lots of snow the first 4 weeks. Mild with light snow the 5-9 week and the last 5 week they will be bundling up warm for lots of sledding with hopefully some snow days :snoopy:
On November 22, 2007 at 10:35 pm
sheila says:
:catmeow: I live in Navarre Florida, located in the Florida panhandle. I have seen 3 very large black wooly worms in the past 2 weeks. I am originally from north alabama and I have never seen a wooly worm this large. Just curious what they are. Do you know?
On July 18, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Suzanne McMinn says:
Hi, Sheila! I don’t know. But they sound really cool!
On July 18, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Chris says:
Well I live in the Stark County Area on Ohio and I have seen alot of all black woolly worms but I have seen some with very liltte brown on them. I am worried that it is going to be a hard winter :shimmy: :weather: !
Hoping Not
Chris from Stark County, Ohio
On August 16, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Tammy says:
We are in North Central Iowa and this afternoon we saw our first wooly worm for the season. The first one was long and had a huge brown middle a black head and a smaller black tail. The rest of the woolyies we saw were much shorter with almost all black. :butterfly:
On September 15, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Kay says:
I just found the blackest (no brown stripes untill he rolled up and then they were thin and deep under the black) woolly worm I’ve ever seen. From what I read, this means really cold and snowy.
K
Missouri Ozarks
On September 26, 2008 at 12:51 am
bonnie says:
Ju st saw my first Wolly of this year, and it was a FAT one!! Broad brown band but 1/3 black at both ends. I’ll just look out the window this winter and go with the flow. whatever that turns out to be. What do Wolly Bears turn into anyhow???? I never hearn that part of the story. Bonnie
On October 14, 2008 at 11:33 pm
Ron Crites says:
Today (October 19th, 2008) I found our road littered with wooly bears! Most of which I observed has a very small amount of black on their head, a very wide brown band and very little black or none at all on their tail end. I stopped and viewed at least a dozen with the same markings. I live in Southwest Missouri 33 miles north of Springfield.
Glad to be apart of the study…hope this helps!
On October 19, 2008 at 2:51 pm
S. Lee says:
Today is October 26th. We found the cutest wooly bear. It is mostly brown with black tips. Ohio’s winter are never really harsh anyways. Well then again that month of february is a doozy. The children want ot keep it. I don’t know how. S. Lee
On October 26, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Sylvia says:
I found a solid black wolly worm in my hallway this morning. First I was not sure what it was so got the dustpan to pick it up. While I had it picked up I tossed it outside, it was cold. I felt bad and brought it back in the house until it warmed up a little. I have since learned that the wolly warms can live in ice because of their body makeup.
I live in NC a couple of friends told me we are going to have a bad winter because it was solid black. We will see.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone…Be thankful for what you have and not sorry for what you dont have. Life is good. Be the best you can be!
On November 27, 2008 at 12:58 pm
KT says:
I’m from southwestern PA, USA. Within the past week, I saw TWO wolley worms…..one totally black, and one with 3 equal sections…black, brown, black. What do I do now???? Does this mean something particular? I think I’ll know for sure, about May of 2010………….ya think? I tend to believe in the wooley worm forcast, but WHICH one do I believe??? :heart: :heart:
On November 2, 2009 at 8:04 pm
Julie says:
May 5th, 2010, just found biggest, longest, fatest, blackest wolly worm ever seen!! Just came through spring & already the bad news of another terrible winter!!! Hold on North Carolina, it ain’t over til the fat, black wolly worm sings or stays in his hole!!!!
On May 4, 2010 at 11:37 pm
Teresa says:
The wooly worm crawling around on my porch just now was mostly brown!! B
On October 9, 2010 at 11:42 am
Joe Myers says:
Hi,
We live in New Carlisle,Ohio and today is March31,2011 .
My wife and I are celebrating her birthday by working outside in the flowerbeds.
We found a black woolly worm and it confirmed our extreme Winter.
Have a great Summer!
Joe and Grace
On March 31, 2011 at 6:34 pm