Winter Predictions

 

Winter Predictions

by Jeremy Yarbrough

    It is that time of year again when everyone starts trying to predict what kind of a winter we will have this season.  Will it be extremely cold and full of snow?  Will it be warmer and dry?  Will it be very cold and have no snow?  Tradition has us looking at the persimmon seed to tell us what the future will hold and it also tells us to see how the wooly worm is looking this year.

    Many people in this area have a persimmon trees in their yards.  These trees drop a fruit that many of our grandmothers used to make something called persimmon pudding.  They also take the seeds of these tiny, orange fruits and split them in half to see what type of winter to expect.  This year there seems to be a lot of seeds with a knife shape which is supposed to mean that we will be having a colder than normal winter.  If there is a spoon shape then be expecting a lot of snow and if it looks like a fork then it will be a mild winter season.  

    Another popular way to predict the weather here in North Carolina is the wooly worm.  The stripes on the wooly worm tells us what type of winter to expect.  If he is dark on the front and brown in the back then we will start the winter off very cold and finish up a bit milder.  Hopefully the wooly worm will be totally black, that would mean a very cold and snowy year.

    Everyone has their form of weather predictions they like to look at each fall.  Some people even refer to a farmer's almanac to know what to expect.  I believe the almanac is probably the best predictor of what type of winter we will have this year.  I am hoping for a couple of really good snow storms to come our way this year because it has been a while since we have had a really good snow.