Sunday, November 25, 2012

What Can Folklore Tell Us About This Winter?

Many of you may remember when I asked two Facebook questions, one asking the anomaly of acorns you had seen in your town, and the other asking if the amount of roadkill you had seen was above or below normal. Why did I ask those questions?

ACORNS

Something that Brett Anthony of KSHB uses is called the 'Acorn Theory'. As this post of his illustrates, the amount of acorns on the ground can help determine the snow amount for the upcoming winter. So, for those of you wondering why there are so many acorns, it could be Mother Nature's way of telling you that a harsh winter is incoming. If there is a below normal amount of acorns, a less cool and snowy winter may be on the way.

ROADKILL

As nasty a subject it is, this is actually a legitimate predictor of winter. Let's say you told me that you have been seeing a ton of roadkill. What this means is that the animals are extremely active. Why are they so active? They are preparing for winter. The animals are scurrying around, gathering equipment for winter. Because they're so active, more roadkill is observed. If you are seeing a strikingly low amount of roadkill, the animals aren't too concerned about this winter, and you shouldn't be either- it could very well be warm.

So whether it's acorns or roadkill, there are some tools out there that can help us predict this winter. All you have to do is look.

Andrew

1 comment:

Wally Gullang Huntley, Illinois said...

What about Woolly Bear caterpillars? Usually I would see thousands crossing roads in the fall. This year ( and I drive a lot of country roads) I saw no more than 5 all fall. Why is this and what is it telling me ?