So I would like to present you with the following weather folklore that I have noticed around here that indicate a harsh winter:
- The Squirrels have been going crazy all Summer long!
- The nests of the bees and wasps are high up this year.
- Ant hills were high in July.
- The wild grasses and weeds are quite tall this Summer.
- The fruit bearing plants have been absolutely loaded! And the birds have cleaned the fruit
bearing trees out already!
- Fruits are ripening and falling early.
- The insects have been RIDICULOUS this year…no matter how much we spray…ants and
spiders everywhere!
- The first week of August has been warm, and that fortells a winter white and long.
Some to look for as we head towards and into Autumn:
- If St. Bartholomews be clear, a prosperous Autumn comes that year (St.
Bartholomews is August 24th).
- Dry August and warm, doth harvest no harm.
- If Michaelmas (Sept. 29th) brings many acorns, christmas will cover the
fields with snow.
- When berries are many in October, beware a hard winter.
- When birds and badgers are fat in October, Winter will be harsh.
- If the wind comes from the NW on St. Martins Day (Nov. 11th) there’s
a severe winter on the way.
Bees often build in the ground during the winter to escape the coming extreme cold. Well, I guess nature speaks for itself. I was cutting brush along my hillside when I roughly 60 to 70 holes in the ground with yellow jackets swarming like crazy in and out of the hole. I too, have noticed that the birds are already beginning their flight south. Some of the major forecasting models are hinting at well below average temperatures during the latter half of September and even snow by October.
Patty: I live in the Mid-West (OH) and we do have birds, very nice ones, lol but they aren’t really very loud unlrdd it’s sprin; at least never annoyingly loud. I have noticed the populaton become thinner, and watched a huge group of birds fueling up and taking off together. South already!?!? I’m probably not helping, hm? I say, wait for spring until you become too worried about the birds. =)
well if the weather pattern stays the course as it has the last few years here in KY, i expect to go from the deads hot summer…have about 3-4 weeks of fall….then right into the marrow of winters bone.we should already be having some( and i mean a select few) mornings already in the upper 50′s…cool enough when i head out in the morning in need a long sleeve button up….not happening yet.NOAA predicted 84 as a high this upcoming tuesday….changed it friday…will be in the 90′s again.maybe im just getting older but it seems that the seasons timing are a little off again this year.
I see weird things going on here in SW Indiana too. I think we will be having a very short fall once the heat does break and we will be going straight into winter. Like many people I can’t put my finger on it but fall is in the air. We are already seeing color change in the trees and we are seeing fewer and fewer waterfowl and those that we do see are highly active. Ready for the weather to cool off, here’s for the next ice age.
Not seeing any color yet up here. Had quite a bit of rain lately though, so that’s probably helping the trees stay healthy through late summer. Hopefully we can get a decent foliage season this year (last year stunk!)
Oh, had the first sub-50 degree night. Hit 49 degrees Tuesday morning, the first since mid-June.
I am jealous of all of you experiencing cooler temps and feeling fall in the air. Down here in Texas we have seen record heat. Day after day of temps in the 100′s and no rain. Houston has seen both the dryest and hottest year on record dating back to 1895. No grass, no fogs, and the trees are dropping their leaves due to the stress. And now they are talking about another La Nina forming this winter which usually brings us dry weather.
Fall cant get here soon enough.
glennkoks, here in Alabama, we have been pretty hot also. Nothing compared to you guys though. I agree with you, Fall can’t get here soon enough.
Ok, time for a new report from my little corner of Monument, Colorado.
grass and weeds are very tall now, some as tall as my waist or even taller, some of our trees have already peaked, and the bulk have already turned that deep olive green color that hints of the edge of fall with many yellow leaves popping up underneath where the sun reaches them less, funny though, compared to what we were last year, thunderstorm activity has been insane up here, lasting well into the night with clouds continuing clear into morning, berries everywhere already, thousands of One-eyed-sallies literally popping up in whole fields, and despite the recent heat wave, maximum temperatures aren’t peaking for very long, as afternoons have become cloudy and cooler.
And now, I see a forecast with our first temps in the 40s for next week, and highs in the upper 60s to lower 70s possible…if you ask me, here comes fall, followed swiftly by maybe one of the coldest and harshest winters that eastern Colorado has seen in a while, and that also likely means that you poor souls in Texas may just get some of the drought relief that you so desperately need, especially if we get more blue northerns and albuquerque lows this season, for those of you who don’t know what those are, the latter are usually remnants of tropical systems that explode over the southwest, then track over the rockies and become supercharged, and drop copious amounts of rain and snow as they track over southern Colorado/ northern New Mexico, and the first is a strong Alberta system dropping straight south through the front range and straight through until the deep south, and bring very cold air and when tapped into gulf moisture, can stir up some wicked snowstorms and ice storms, as well as plenty of wind-whipped blizzards across the front range and plains of the US.
The GFS precip model is showing the first snows for central Canada the middle of September.
You can’t trust the GFS in the long range, it has an extreme cold/snow bias. It always shows snow ridiculously early in the fall and late in the spring. This is why I sometimes call it the “Goofus” model.
I still don’t see this being a particularly cold fall for the Eastern US…the signs just aren’t really there.
I had seen some spider webs up pretty high off the ground lately. Does that mean anything??
well, I don’t know much about the GFS models, but just look around at your environment, if nature tells of impending peril for an early winter, then I’d bank on that, but if the signs you are hoping for just aren’t there, then maybe better luck next time I suppose…not like we have any control over what the weather throws at us.
I haven’t really completely banked on any long range forecasts for this winter myself…especially when most of them are showing the same exact maps that followed last year’s pattern…and that includes them saying very warm and dry over Colorado and states surrounding, but the fact is…Mother nature is telling quite a different story, one that says, you’re going to get cold very soon, and prepare for the worst, and no matter where you live, nature doesn’t tell lies.
MaineMan, most people call the GFS Goofus. lol. And while I dont doubt a near normal to slightly above normal Autumn for the Eastern US…he was speaking of Canada. In Canada it wouldn’t be all that uncommon for snows in September. It’s not a yearly occurence..but it’s not uncommon either.
It was 55 this morning!!! =D But in a few days we’re supposed to be back in the 90′s. =( With a cold front in the first 7 days of September, we’re supposed to get back into the upper 70′s. I’m tired of this weather! If the FA is right, and we do get snow fall as early as Halloween, it just enhances my countdown. 61 days. ;D
As for folklore: trees are still changing nicely. Deer have been nuts… everywhere! Have not seen a squirrle… at all! Where are they?!?! Have not been able to touch a corn husk, so the lore about it being thicker orrougher has yet to be tested… Webworm nests look empty, but I cannot tell? They are not pleasent to look at.
I’m still not seeing any color besides the occasional leaf here and there, and acorns have been close to non-existent so far. However, insect activity is absolutely insane.
We had the most blatant sign of all the other day! My father was on the roof doing some work and found there was a loose board in the attic roof. When he pried it open, a whole family of squirrels and well over a hundred pecans came pouring out of the space in the roof! I found it rather comical myself.
MaineMan, I wonder why we are seeing the leaves changing already and you are not? Don’t the leaves become fully changed in New England before the MidWest? Strangeee?
FatherFrost, that sounds halirous! And good for winter, too! The little critters had the right idea, lol. Wish I knew where ours were… =\ I don’t think I’ve seen one since mid-July.
MaineMan, The insects, bees and wasp’s are insane here also. Alot more of them than last year by far. Cricket’s and grasshopper’s like crazy also. Alot of falling leave’s here already, haven’t really noticed the color’s changing yet. But haven’t really looked for it either, been to busy getting out of the way of all these spider’s,cricket’s, wasp’s and grasshopper’s, lol !! Oh yes and the spider webs also, Yulk!!
I am in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.
I was wondering also, I live in the Northern plains, not too far from the Canadian Border and the spider webs have been insane, for quite awhile. And it’s not they they are just up high, they are everywhere! I can’t ever remember seeing them this bad, I mean I will park my bike in the shop and over night it will have several webs on it.We live on a farm.
Lately, in the last couple weeks the crickets have been unbeilevable! Grasshopers wicked also. We have had one of the wettest summers on record with flooding all over the state. Just wondering what this is meaning for the winter, the trees are well on their way to changing. I’ve always heard too the if the buffalo berrries are thick on the bushes it means a lot of snow, i’ve seen a few with thick covering. Last year they weren’t thick but wow, we had a lot of snow!