When I was growing up, my Gram had all of these amazing, pieces of weather knowledge. If she heard cicadas in July, she would always say that fall was right around the corner.

She would also tell us whenever she started hearing the peepers (tiny frogs), because that meant that we had to put up with only three more winter weather events before spring would officially begin.

This one is dead on, I kid you not. Every year, I mark it on the calendar in our kitchen and every year, it's three snows or three ice storms, etc and then warmer weather arrives.

The other thing she swore by was the wooly caterpillar, or more specific, the banded wooly caterpillar. She would compare the length of the dark sections against the length of the lighter mid-section and whichever was bigger would determine how hard the winter would be.

If it had bigger sections of dark, be prepared for a cold, snowy winter. If the mid, lighter section was bigger, it would be a mild winter.

So, what do you think I did when I saw a wooly caterpillar on my way back into the building after lunch? I didn't exactly measure it, but I looked really closely, and according to what my Gram would say, it's gonna be a mild-winter. See for yourself.

Beth Christy
Beth Christy
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The caterpillar has spoken, you're welcome.

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