Goosebones and Winter

A friend shared something from  our local newspaper. There is a daily news bite from 25, 50 and 100 years ago. Here is one from 1908 about the signs of a winter weather. Some we have discussed but the goose bone is a new one for me.

In southern Illinois and the Ozark hills of Missouri, “goosebone”Weather prophets examine the breastbone of a wild goose killed in autumn. If it is thin and rather transparent, that predicts a mild winter; it thick and opaque, a hard winter; if white, much snow; if reddish or red-spotted, cold but little snow. It is commonly believed that muskrats build bigger lodges and the fur is thicker on muskrats, raccoons, skunks and other furbearers before a severe winter. The woolly bear caterpillar is supposed to forecast a mild winter if its middle band of reddish brown is wider than the two end bands of black, and a hard winter if it is narrower. Such conditions among animals have natural causes but nothing to do with what the weather will be in later months.

So far it looks like  ”thick and opaque, a hard winter;” and  hard winter if it is narrower.”

 So what was the winter of 1908 – 1909 like in Missouri??  Help, does anyone remember?? The million dollar question is has anyone measured the breastbone of a wild goose recently??

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Weatherlore, Wild Geese, Muskrats, Raccoons, Woollybear Caterpillars