Natural signs for the coming winter

[JonnyRadar]

Hello All, this has been a topic of interest for me of late, locally, and was just wondering about some input from forum members. We've had a number of signs here (northern-northern Michigan) predicting a harsh winter. One might call them "Old Wives' Tales" but for my part I think they are quite accurate... This is what I've heard/seen so far:

- Berries, fruits, vegetables, migratory birds, trees turning color, everything that's annually cyclical seems to be coming or has come in about a month early.
- Deer are literally stuffed with fat, indicating that they're stocking up early.

That first point is condensed from a bunch of observations and stories over the past few months. The fat deer sign is something I heard from an elder hunter after he saw how much fat was on a deer we were skinning. He was actually quite surprised by it...

So, my question is, does anyone have any other natural signs they know about or have been seeing like this? And if so, I'm curious if that pinpoints loose predictions for how the winter may be in different parts of the world this year...

Thoughts?

 

[Laura]

I dunno if it is a sign, but the acorns ALL fell very early this year, like in August. They fell green, too. And we hadn't had any wind to bring them down, either. Just LOADS of them all over the ground.

 

[Gaby]

The one that stuck on my mind was from The Long Winter from The Little House on the Prairie books. From wikipedia:

The story begins in Dakota Territory at the Ingalls homestead in South Dakota on a hot August day in 1880 as Laura and her father ("Pa") are haying. Pa tells Laura that he knows the winter is going to be hard because muskrats always build a house with thick walls before a hard winter, and this year, they have built the thickest walls he has ever seen. In mid-October, the Ingalls wake with an unusually early blizzard howling around their poorly insulated claim shanty. Soon afterward, Pa receives another warning from an unexpected source: a dignified old Native American man comes to the general store in town to warn the white settlers that there will be seven months of blizzards. Impressed, Pa decides to move the family into town for the winter.

That book really puts things into perspective!

I'm in Spain and it already snowed in the mountains yesterday, or so the locals told me.

 

[Scottie]

- Deer are literally stuffed with fat, indicating that they're stocking up early.

Oh dear...

When the animals start stocking up, it's time for the humans to do the same!

If nothing happens, nothing is lost.

 

[Joe]

Winter seems to be making a very early but brief appearance in Western Europe. This weekend and for a few days temps are gonna get down to near freezing and below freezing for many places. Strange thing is, it's set to warm up considerably again later next week and stay that way for a few weeks. It's sort of flip flopping, which might be indicative of it gearing up for a switch. But that also makes it pretty difficult to determine how bad or good a winter this one is going to be. If I had to bet though, based on previous winters, I'd say it ain't gonna be pretty, at least at times.

 

[Guardian]

We go by the wooly worms up here. The redder they are, the milder the winter and the blacker they are the harsher the winter. I saw a wooly worm with a nice wide red band, so that should mean our winter won't be too bad.

 

[agni]

I do not have any practical knowledge about natural signs, but I can share a joke about it:

The tribe people come to the Shaman and ask him, tell us, how the winter is going to be like ?
He thinks, well, if I tell them it's going to warm than they are not going to gather enough wood, so I better tell them it's going to very cold. Tribesmen left.

Later he is stressed about what he has told them. What if winter is going to be warm, it means they would be gathering wood for nothing, I'd better go check with the meteorologist.

- Hey, meteorologist, tell me, is winter going to be cold ?
Meteorologist looks through the window: For sure. Very cold !
- Oh, thanks, but how did you know ?
- Look over there, see how much wood tribesmen have started to gather ?

:)

 

[seek10]

I do not have any practical knowledge about natural signs, but I can share a joke about it:

The tribe people come to the Shaman and ask him, tell us, how the winter is going to be like ?
He thinks, well, if I tell them it's going to warm than they are not going to gather enough wood, so I better tell them it's going to very cold. Tribesmen left.

Later he is stressed about what he has told them. What if winter is going to be warm, it means they would be gathering wood for nothing, I'd better go check with the meteorologist.

- Hey, meteorologist, tell me, is winter going to be cold ?
Meteorologist looks through the window: For sure. Very cold !
- Oh, thanks, but how did you know ?
- Look over there, see how much wood tribesmen have started to gather ?

:)

 

[whitecoast]

The one that stuck on my mind was from The Long Winter from The Little House on the Prairie books. From wikipedia:

The story begins in Dakota Territory at the Ingalls homestead in South Dakota on a hot August day in 1880 as Laura and her father ("Pa") are haying. Pa tells Laura that he knows the winter is going to be hard because muskrats always build a house with thick walls before a hard winter, and this year, they have built the thickest walls he has ever seen. In mid-October, the Ingalls wake with an unusually early blizzard howling around their poorly insulated claim shanty. Soon afterward, Pa receives another warning from an unexpected source: a dignified old Native American man comes to the general store in town to warn the white settlers that there will be seven months of blizzards. Impressed, Pa decides to move the family into town for the winter.

That book really puts things into perspective!

I'm in Spain and it already snowed in the mountains yesterday, or so the locals told me.

I've heard the same thing over here on the west coast of Canada. Lots of early snow on the mountains.

 

[Meager1]

More winter lore.

Animals will have extra thick luxuriant fur, birds will fly south earlier then usual,paper wasp nests will be high off the ground, fall fishing will be extremely good.

Wind is mostly from the east/ north east.
Lots of mice and spiders try to get into the house.

I think the fat on animals like deer just means that they have had an extra easy summer.
Lots to eat and not to much running from predator's. I`m not sure that the weather is predictable anymore though, even by signs.

 

[Voyageur]

In the North West, the mountains are now covered with snow. There has been an avalanche fatality :( near the Alaska Boarder (have never heard this happening in October before) and am waiting for the full moon to see what temp changes happen. Fall transition (plants/birds/animals) seems to have been semi normal here and upon reading the 'Farmers Almanac', which was wrong last year, shows cold heavy winter in the east and above average temps in the west; which could mean lots of snowfall, too. If that is true for the east, then the gulf stream is suspect and may influence Europe as it it did last year, too.

Of animals: it was noted that the Berry season was very good and bears have had lots to eat. Elk and deer look plump and are hanging around the Vally bottoms now.

 

[JonnyRadar]

I do not have any practical knowledge about natural signs, but I can share a joke about it:

The tribe people come to the Shaman and ask him, tell us, how the winter is going to be like ?
He thinks, well, if I tell them it's going to warm than they are not going to gather enough wood, so I better tell them it's going to very cold. Tribesmen left.

Later he is stressed about what he has told them. What if winter is going to be warm, it means they would be gathering wood for nothing, I'd better go check with the meteorologist.

- Hey, meteorologist, tell me, is winter going to be cold ?
Meteorologist looks through the window: For sure. Very cold !
- Oh, thanks, but how did you know ?
- Look over there, see how much wood tribesmen have started to gather ?

:)

That is pretty funny... Thanks for sharing :)

I dunno if it is a sign, but the acorns ALL fell very early this year, like in August. They fell green, too. And we hadn't had any wind to bring them down, either. Just LOADS of them all over the ground.

We had the same thing here. Lots of green acorns on the ground, however we did have some wind storms.

If nothing happens, nothing is lost.

My sentiments as well...

Thanks for the feedback :)

 

[Cosmos]

well here in southwest germany we have a definite sign of an early winter, wich is snow!
It is snowing with no end since this morning.
the snow is now up to a height of about 20cm! and still snowing...
and pretty cold too

 

[Yozilla]

well here in southwest germany we have a definite sign of an early winter, wich is snow!
It is snowing with no end since this morning.
the snow is now up to a height of about 20cm! and still snowing...
and pretty cold too

...well that's genuine sign of winter

...but in October dunno

After all, i'm not from snowy locator ;D

 

[theos]

From the farmer's almanac:

20 Signs of a Hard Winter
by Peter Geiger | Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 | From: Blog

Technorati Tags:
Signs of Nature, Harsh Winter, Woollybear Caterpillars, Acorns

Ok, the Farmers’ Almanac prediction for a Numbingly Cold winter is out, but what are the real experts saying? A wonderful friend of Ray Geiger, ( Cleveland weather guru – Dick Goddard) put together a laundry list of “signs” of nature. We featured these in the 1978 edition and it is still relevant today. here are the 20 Signs of A Hard Winter.



Thicker than normal corn husks
Woodpeckers sharing a tree
Early arrival of the Snowy owl
Early departure of geese and ducks
Early migration of the Monarch butterfly
Thick hair on the nape (back) of the cow’s neck
Heavy and numerous fogs during August
Raccoons with thick tails and bright bands
Mice eating ravenously into the home
Early arrival of crickets on the hearth
Spiders spinning larger than usual webs and entering the house in great numbers

Pigs gathering sticks
Insects marching a bee line rather than meandering
Early seclusion of bees within the hive
Unusual abundance of acorns
Muskrats burrowing holes high on the river hank
“See how high the hornet’s nest, ‘twill tell how high the snow will rest”
Narrow orange band in the middle of the Woollybear caterpillar warns of heavy snow; fat

and fuzzy caterpillars presage bitter cold
The squirrel gathers nuts early to fortify against a hard winter
Frequent halos or rings around sun or moon forecast numerous snow falls.