The woolly worm knew we'd have harsh, bitter weather
Jan. 19—We can't say we weren't warned.
"Folks, it's looking like the beginning and ending of winter are going to be hard," reported Melinda Lane Hedgecoth in the Oct. 20 issue of the Crossville Chronicle. "The little woolly worms have made their appearance, and the biggest majority of them are black on both ends and brown in the middle, which signifies a cold beginning and ending to winter with a mild spell in the middle."
Hedgecoth watches signs of nature to make her weather prognostications. She shares her findings each fall exclusively with the Crossville Chronicle, continuing a tradition that was begun by her mother, Helen Lane.
Lane, a community correspondent from Crab Orchard from the 1940s until her death in 2000, became nationally famous when she accurately predicted the harsh winter of 1960 based on what she observed in flora, fauna and summer weather itself.
Think the scrambling for bread, eggs and milk was bad over the weekend? It was apparently the same in nature in the hot, humid and hazy days of July and August.
"... the mast crop is heavy this year with loads of acorns and hickory nuts abounding which also signifies a hard winter," Hedgecoth reported in the fall. "The little squirrels are busy gathering and hoarding their cache for the winter so we better get busy too!"
Other signs of a harsh winter that Hedgecoth noticed and passed on in her report included thick corn husks, thick foliage and bark on trees, and thick coats on animals, including the nut-gathering squirrel.
These past few days of cold, snow and ice won't be the end of it, if Hedgecoth's predictions hold true. Remember those woolly worms? They're not the only things she relies on for winter's wrath.
"I've counted eight early morning fogs with three of them heavy," she reported, "which indicates three heavy snows while the other five lighter ones are more of the 'blue-darter' type of snow which means a light skiff of snow that barely covers the ground, but is an indicator of extreme cold for the ground has to be frozen for this type of snow to occur!"
Hedgecoth's weather-watching skills were learned from the knee of her mother, who learned them from her own elders. These pioneers learned to read the signs from necessity to protect their crops and families from the harsh, bitter conditions while trying to build a better life.
Only time — and possibly, the woolly worm and his compatriots in nature — will tell if we've seen the last of the cold, snow and ice this winter.
