Wooly Bear - or - Wooly Bull?

Does the Wooly Bear predict the severity of the coming winter?

The short answer is no!

Wooly Bear caterpillar at Otto Armleder Memorial Park October 27, 2017

FOLKLORE

Folklore tells us more black means a longer, colder snowier winter and the position of the black tells you what part of winter will be the biggest headache. The Wooly Bear in the photo is black at its head and tail-end so tradition tells us winter will have a harsh beginning and end but a  long, mild, uneventful middle.

The Wooly Bear's body has 13 segments which tradition tells us correspond to each of the 13 weeks of winter. 

FOLKLORE HISTORY

Wooly Bear folklore has a rich, long history and has it origins in Colonial America.  

The year 1938 was a banner year of the Wooly Bear myth. 

In that year Dr. Howard Curran, curator of entomology from the American Museum of Natural History, went to Bear Mountain State Park, up the Hudson River from New York City,  He counted the brown bands on 15 Wooly Bears and made the first winter prediction based on the caterpillars that eventually become Isabella Tiger Moths.  

The story was published by the New York Herald Tribune and picked up by the national press. 

NAMES

Wooly Bear - Northeast U.S.

Wooly Worm - Southeast U.S.

Hedgehog Catepillar - because it often curls up in a defensive position when touched

What's Really Going On?

The amount of black and orange-brown depends on the age and species of the Wooly Bear. If the eatin' has been good during autumn there is more black and less orange-brown.

The Wolly Bear is telling you something, but it is about the recent past not the future. Good-for-caterpillar conditions mean fat and healthy Wooly Bears and more black not a harsh winter.

Isabella Tiger Moth (Pyrrharctia isabella) - the second part of a Wooly Bear's life.