According to a Wooly Bear, Connecticut Will Have a Mild Winter

You've hear the legend, right? According to The Farmer's Almanac, The Banded Wooly Bear, AKA the Wooly Worm Caterpillar, is a natural, living indicator for the severity of our upcoming Winter. Supposedly, our coming Winter will be snowy if the width of the orange band on a Wooly Bear is narrow. If the width of the band is wide? It will be a mild Winter. If that's the case, Connecticut is in for a mild Winter.

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The weather has taken a turn after the soaking we received over the weekend, it's gorgeous outside, and the bugs of Connecticut are getting in one last fling before 32 degrees shows up. I saw quite a few Wooly Bear Caterpillars around Torrington while walking my dog yesterday, and every single Wooly that I saw was mostly orange. Some had only a black head and butt, that was it.

Where did this rumor of Wooly Bear weather predicting prowess come from? According to Farmersalmanac.com, folks believe that each of the 13 segments of a Wooly Bear represent a week of Winter. Take that notion, and imagine that each of the orange segments of a Wooly Bear represents the sun. Not as many orange segments? Cold Winter. Plenty of orange segments? Warm months ahead. Others have reportedly gone on to examine the thickness of the Wooly Bear's hair, with lush, thick hair indicating a rough Winter ahead. On that point, the Wooly Bears that I saw were pretty damn Wooly. Maybe we're in for a harsh Winter?

Who's to say? But one thing is for sure, these Wooly Worm Caterpillars will emerge in Spring 2024 as Isabella Tiger Moths. How about the ones you saw? Were they mostly orange?