Daily Archives: October 6, 2011
Can Nature Signal A Harsh Winter Ahead?
Good Thursday evening everyone. Since the weather around here is going to be on the nice, but boring, side of things for a while. I wanted to use this time to have a little fun with the winter ahead. We often hear people talking about how signs from nature can often forecast the upcoming winter. Do you know what to look for? For those who are in search of a harsh winter, here is a list of things to keep an eye on according to the Farmers’ Almanac. Thicker than normal corn husks Pigs gathering sticks and fuzzy caterpillars presage bitter cold One of the more common things people in Kentucky look at to forecast the winter ahead is the woolly worm. You know how the folklore goes… the more black on the worm, the colder the winter. If you subscribe to that theory, what do you think this little guy is telling us? I took that pic a few weeks ago. If that fellow is to be believed… BRRRRRR!!! Feel free to share any signs you are seeing. Have a great evening and take care.
(That is not your friendly weatherdude)
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
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
The squirrel gathers nuts early to fortify against a hard winter
Frequent halos or rings around sun or moon forecast numerous snow falls.
Indian Summer Rolls On
Good Thursday everyone and thanks for dropping by the blog. We are in the middle of a heck of a nice weather pattern across the state. We aren’t being greedy with Indian Summer as we are sharing it with all of our neighbors and with much of the eastern half of the country. Changes appear to be brewing for next week and that is something we will be looking at.
In the short term, it’s all about the awesome weather. Plenty of sunshine will carry us through the rest of the week into the upcoming weekend. Highs will generally run in the upper 70s to around 80 with some low 80s in the west.
Nothing more needs to be said about the awesome pattern we are in.
Current Temps
The warm air will carry us into the first part of next week. This is when some subtle changes in the pattern start showing up. A trough will begin to make some eastward progress into the plains states. This happens as something tropical tries to form near Florida. Whatever this is sneaks into the Gulf of Mexico and many of the models then have the trough picking this system up and lifting it northward. That scenario would give us a shot of tropical moisture by mid week.
A few of the models have been hinting at this system teaming up with the trough to form another big eastern U.S. cutoff low pressure. The European Model is among the most extreme with this…
While that is on the extreme side of the model guidance… it doe fit the fall pattern of mega cutoff lows across the eastern half of the country.
That is certainly something to watch for as or Indian Summer rolls on.
Keeping with Wednesday’s theme of showing what others are thinking about the upcoming winter. Accuweather just put out their winter forecast…
Push all that about 100 miles farther south and I would say they were close to my thoughts. 
Have a great Thursday and take care.
