Hey all. Hope your day is going well, and that your keeping cool should you be one of the millions of unlucky people that is having to endure this horrible heat wave. We’re finally gonna get some relief in form of showers and storms this coming week that will knock highs back down to the lower 90′s…maybe even the upper 80′s for a little but. That is a WELCOMED sight, seeing as how the past few days..maybe even weeks…its been in the 90′s and 100′s. Stepping into my girlfriends pool at night is like getting into a hot tub almost, with the water’s temps in the upper 80′s, to near 90. But anyway, I wanted to bring back an old topic because this year, I have noticed a few things that I didn’t notice last year. The topic is…
Natural Signs!
As I mentioned before, I have noticed a few things this year that I didn’t see last year. One thing, being bugs, like Skeeters and the like. They’er pretty bad this year. Second: Spiders. Yes..those creepy eight legged creatures that you can’t really see at night until you run into they’er web have been busy so far this year. Now Folklore states that “If a spider spins it’s web large and high, then that will be how high the snowbank grows” (or something like that). While I have seen only a few webs built high…but these things are making MANSIONS this year. And third: Pinecones. I hate these things, but I can’t over look the fact that the neighbors yard is littered with fairly large pinecones, compared to the cones I usually see.
So with all that said…have you noticed anything that might correlate with a rough and snowly/cold winter?
The spiders are huge and horrible here too, and the snakes !! OMG, we have killed two copperheads, and seen at least 25 grass, ribbion, and black snakes. But with the warm winter last year I kinda figured this was going to happen, was not cold enough to kill off the darn things. I hope it snows like no other winter, but it’s in mother natures hands and it’d hard to say. Here’s to hope !!!
Berries seem to be quite numerous already despite the horrible drought we are in, and I just can’t really remember if I have seen them ripen this early in the year or not, not to mention the deer seem rather fat to me, and yeah, pine cones have fallen off the trees and are fairly large, not sure how large compared to normal, maybe a little bigger.
Spiders!!!! We have always seen them but they really are much more numerous this summer. They are on everything; many of them high up. I think last winter being so mild may be a warning of a colder one this year. That remains to be seen.
Hi all!! Yes I have seen some spider webs that are fairly large and very high up. There is one that is fairly large and up at the top of my porch roof. I didn’t see any that high last yesr. There are alot of bees and wasps floating around to. The same here with the snake explosion and from what I hear it is the same for the bears to. Well hopefully this winter will be a better winter with at least a couple of decent snowstorms for us all !!!
Amen to that Jayne
yeah, I am seeing webs everywhere I go…not to mention that I have rarely seen fruit in such numbers maturing so fast…we also have had a few days where fog was extremely heavy…and had a pretty hard time burning off until the late afternoon, deer are really fat and eating like crazy, they have been everywhere the last week or so, and the monsoon is bringing life back from the brink of total loss, so animals are scrounging up whatever they can faind and in quite a hurry it seems…all I can say is, it would be nice to finally see a winter that for once features above normal precipitation, I think 3 years of drought is enough, bring on the blizzards and heavy rains and snows.
Haha this thread was the reason I joined a couple years ago!
Its not looking very bright here in the KC area. So far there have been only a few crickets (which is surprising because I thought they liked hot an dry). The only spiderwebs I’ve seen have been pretty small and close to the ground. Wooly bears have had more orange than black. Our prospects of a good winter don’t seem as good as everyone else’s so far, though I don’t see how we could do any worse than last year (the least snowiest winter in history).
Probably another long term drought cycle. We’re overdue here.
Our oak trees started dropping small acorns a couple of weeks ago, I have to blow our deck off everyday because they hurt to step on. I think they are dropping because it is pretty dry here in NOVA.
I haven’t noticed any webs yet, but the mosquitos are terrible. I haven’t noticed any wolly worms yet but I think it is to early here still. I will keep an eye out on my run this morning and see if I can spot any signs.
Too difficult to interpret anything up here. We had such an early spring that there are many unusual things happening (very early fireflies, very early adult grasshoppers, early blueberries) that I attribute to the early spring following a very mild winter. I don’t think it will be before August and maybe even September that I’ll be able to read any signs that are worth interpreting about future seasons. I’ll certainly keep my eyes and ears open though. For now… I’m enjoying the early blueberries!
OK, now I am noticing the spider webs everywhere. This morning on my run there were webs across the trail and now on my deck and grill.
Rickster! I’m so glad you brought it up, because I signed in to do just that! Last night I must have taken down several webs from our porch. And they are going for gold on the size of these things.
Pinecones. Last year I barely noticed any, but the other day we went by a tree that had growing ones that were the size of the finished ones last year.
Crickets. It’s only the 17th of July and they are already coming into the garage and hubby thinks at least one got in and had a “litter” so we have baby’s all over the place in there. We spray our foundation and you should have seen the great-grandma of crickets sitting on the foundation completely un-effected by the spray! Same with the leaf hoppers!
We also noticed that the squirrels seem to be very busy already this year and it’s wayyyyy too early for them to be.
If you look at the forecast for October here in the SE, sounds like the cooler temps are being predicted to be coming in early this year.
Is it my imagination, or has mosquittos calmed down? They came out early, fast and furious! Trust me I’m not complaining. Today and for the rest of the work week we are predicted to have 3 digit temeratures here in Virginia!!!! I’m looking forward to the weekend where they call for temperatures in the 80s! (Yepeee) I am hoping for a cooler August. Does anyone have an outlook for August? I lost my Farmer’s Almanac
I’m getting married on Aug. 18th; and I’m hoping for no rain (on that date). Although we need the rain. I’m also hoping that it won’t be very HOT also. No signs yet; I’m afraid to get my hopes up 
Last year I noticed leaves changing to yellow late July, I got so excited; but I think it’s was the heat that changed the leaves so early. We didn’t have a great fall foliage year last year.
Here in NC, you are right, the mosquitoes have calmed down early. The fireflys were out early too. We’re predicted to be in the upper 90′s until Friday, when a rain system comes in through Saturday. Temps drop a little. Looking at the long range, we should start seeing relief from the heat in about 2 months from now (middle of Sept) and turning colder in the beginning of October. I really pray they are right!
Here’s your August predictions:
12th-15th. Ongoing threat of thunderstorms, some severe.
16th-19th. Wet system from Gulf of Mexico moves inland and brings copious rains to eastern Mississippi River Valley.
20th-23rd. Showery, then fair.
I live in North Mississippi and highs are back in the 90′s, for about 5 days in a row highs were stuck in the 80′s, including 81 degrees. And hopefully the mid August showers will cool things down but theres also supposed to be September heat but I think the country will cool down by the end of the month.
I’m glad to see that everyone has joined in from all parts of the US. it’s cool
. But yeah, spiders are stull rough around here. Bee’s are everywhere as well. One thing I noticed is the squirrels. Those critters have been ripping out my neighbors pinecones. I was outside for a few hours yesterday and they were right there with me, so to speak. One thing to keep an eye out for is Persimmons! If any of you have access to these “weather forcasters”, please get the seeds and chop’em open and post your findings on here. I don’t have access to any near my house, which sucks. But it is what it is. Oh…one thing I must note. My aunt Gloria who lives behind my mother and I said she seen SNOW BIRDS. Yes….snow birds! I hope to high Heaven that that is a sign of things to come. Temps are in the mid 90′s right now with a heat index in the hundreds. I find this unacceptable, because I am a outdoorsy type person. Hopefully this winter will deliver, with the type of summer we’re having. Thats for sure.
I will keep an eye out on the persimmons. I have tree in my backyard and we aren’t that far apart (SC right?). Go look at WeatherAdvances prediction for this winter. Us here in NC are in the colder then average and SNOWY! I am so looking forward to that!
I bet Pearlss
. Yeah, I’m in South Carolina, just below the Columbia. About 20 or so miles south. I’m gonna check site out for sure. It surprises me that people are releasing Winter outlooks already.
For us here in SC, we’re kind of on the lines of Cold and Snowy, and Icy and Wetter than Average. Either makes me happy, but snow is my favorite of course.
That NOAA map sucks
Has NOAA already posted they’er prediction for this Winter up?