5 Unexpected Ways to Predict Maine’s Harsh Winters

My grandfather was an endless source of oldie-timey knowledge.

When I was growing up, my grandfather took any and every opportunity to teach me something. Sometimes it was an important life lesson, sometimes it was just a little tidbit of knowledge I could tuck away for some know-it-all moment later on down the road. Often, things would revolve around the weather.

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He'd always be telling me to watch the clouds, or look at how spiders were building webs... stuff like that. But to this day, I still find myself looking around for clues about the weather. I'm always looking for the red skies, or the fog on hill instead of the hollow. To this day, I still find all that to be fairly reliable info.

And he had a few for winter time too. I'm not saying you need to take my/his word for it, but these are also popular theories in other areas of the country as well. All of these ideas could be absolutely bunk, but it's interesting how much these "theories" were used by other generations. But let's dig into these things you can look for in your yard to see how brutal winter may be...

The bands on a woolly bear caterpillar.

With woolly bears, the more black you see on their bodies, the harsher the winter. Some people also say that whichever end has the most black could indicate how long winter will also last. Scientists say the amount of black has more to do with their age, and the wetness of the fall weather. So is it accurate? Hard to say. But I still look...

The amount of clouds and fog in August.

Some believe that the more foggy mornings you have in August, the harsher the winter will be. My grandfather used to say to watch the bottoms of the clouds in August. He said if they were typically dark day to day, then a bad winter was coming. Between the two, you may be able to see if one theory supports the other.

Tightness of corn husks.

It's been said that the husks on corn will be thick and tight if a really bad winter is on the way. Right before fall corn harvest, farmers will start checking out what the husks are like and start planning for winter. Scientists say it's because that year may have been extremely wet, and not necessarily an indicator of what's in store.

The height of the wasp nests in your yard.

There's a belief that the height of a wasp nest on a tree could predict how much snow is on the way that year. The idea is that higher they build them, the more snow we get. If they're lower toward the ground, then less snow is on the way. However, if you look at ten different nests in the same area, they'll probably be ten different heights.

The depth of the holes that moles dig in your lawn.

If you look around, it won't be hard to find holes that moles have dug into your lawn. If you're looking for some idea of the snow's depth for the coming winter, you can measure how deep those holes go into the ground. If they're deeper than a couple feet, a bad winter is coming. The shallower they are, the less snow is likely.

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Here's the thing, even scientific weather predicting is a crap-shoot sometimes. Even with the most sophisticated instruments and technology, even the pros get it wrong. So don't feel bad if some of these "folk": methods are a bit wonky. On the other hand, it probably means they're not that much less accurate then your favorite meteorologist.