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The Wooly Bear Caterpillars Have Returned...

By Doug Peters
July 22, 2010 Updated Oct 22, 2009 at 9:25 PM EDT

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been noticing that the wooly bear caterpillars are out. They are known for the brown or orange band around their midsection. Yep, these are the infamous caterpillars that are supposed to be able to predict how severe a winter may be. The folklore behind this states that the wider the orange/brown band is, the less severe the winter will be. A smaller brown band means a more severe winter. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find one of those little buggers so I could see it up close.  I’ve only seen them from afar when I was driving. I’ll keep looking and I’ll hopefully see if the band is large or small.



So, is this really an old tale, or is there some science to collaborate the story? I did some digging, and found this article from the Farmers Almanac. It makes for an interesting read.  Click here to see if  the wooly bear caterpillar can predict the winter.

 

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