Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
WHEN THE seeds of the persimmon tree look like spoons, as in this Farmers Almanac photo, then a snowy winter is ahead, according to folklore.
After the most brutal winter in the past 110 years in Ironwood, Gogebic Range residents wouldn't mind a reprieve from the bitter cold for the next five months.
The Farmers Almanac isn't predicting any relief, however.
The magazine predicts a "shivery and shovely" winter of 2014-15.
For its two-month forecast in the Great Lakes states, the almanac predicts a lot of wet weather for October, followed by a Nov. 8-19 period that could produce plenty of wet snow and some frigid temperatures.
For the entire winter, the Great Lakes states will receive lower than average precipitation, however, according to the forecast, but they won't be spared from the cold.
"No region will see prolonged spells of above-normal temperatures," the almanac said in its winter predictions.
In addition to that gloomy forecast, the Persimmon Lady from North Carolina presented the almanac with more bad news this week.
Melissa Bunker sends in annual predictions to the editors based on opening seeds from her persimmon tree.
According to American folklore, splitting a persimmon can determine the severity of the winter ahead. If the sprouts in the seeds are spaced like forks, the winter will be mild, but if they look like spoons, there will be a lot of snow. If they are shaped like knives, it will be bitterly cold.
Bunker's verdict? All spoons.
"I've never seen all spoons before," she said.
On the local front, could the fact that the Globe's news editor spotted a wooly bugger on the Eagle Bluff golf course two weeks ago be a sign winter's just around the corner?
Legend has it that the wooly bugger, a tiger moth caterpillar with black bands at both ends and reddish-brown in the middle, can determine if winter will be mild or harsh.
They seek shelter in the fall, but it's not the time of their arrival, nor numbers, that signal what lies ahead for the winter months.
According to folk wisdom, when the brown bands on fall woolly bears are narrow, a harsh winter is coming. The wider the brown band, the milder the winter will be.
Dr. C.H. Curran, former curator of insects at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, tested woolly worms in the 1950s and his surveys found an 80 percent accuracy rate for their weather predictions, according to Debbie Hadley, an expert on bugs.
Today, however, entomologists agree woolly worms are not accurate predictors of winter weather, as many variables may contribute to changes in the caterpillar's coloration, and Curran's findings haven't been duplicated, according to Hadley.
So, wooly bugs and persimmon trees aside, get out those mittens, scrapers and shovels.
On a related front, the Farmers Almanac said this would be a good week to cut firewood.
