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Signs Of The Season

photo by Cookie Steponaitis

Tuesday September 29, 2009

By Cookie Steponaitis

     There are sure signs the changes of the season are once again upon us and that behaviors are shifting as quickly as the colors of the trees. Until just recently shorts, flip flops and light sweaters were the standard dress for humans and the activity in your back yard bustled with animals hard at work raising young and basking in the extra hours in the warmth of the sun until just recently when it all began to change! Pause for a moment and think of the changes you have seen in just the past week of cooler temperatures.  Whether you call it folklore or reading the signs, Mother Nature has been sending out signals about the winter ahead. Squirrels appear to be busily gathering their winter supply of nuts and stockpiling them a bit early. Shoppers at the local stores recently went into a flurry of spending as the first fall specials on soups appeared in the sale fliers. The Wooly Bears or caterpillars are out and those who watch for the signs remark that the more black hairs on the coat, the colder the winter will be that is on the way. Another old standby prediction from loggers and farmers alike is that the position of a beehive on the tree signals what is to come. If the nest is built head level or close to the ground the winter will not be as harsh. A nest positioned high in the tree is a sign of a lot of snow to come. The 2010 Farmer’s Almanac hails the coming winter to be, “…normal temperatures and precipitation,” but cautions that the temperatures could see “…bitterly cold and dry periods.”

         All of these predictions leave even the most diehard Vermonters with little concrete information and their own predictions about the coming white season still ahead of us. While scientists have used supercomputers and programmed in data on weather patterns and changes in the climate the result has still been the same. Mother Nature still seems to hold all the cards and allows only glimpses into the forecast, the future and the patterns of winter yet to come. As most master gardeners, farmers and old timers will tell you, “It is a’ coming, but there really ain’t any way to see ahead of time what you are going to get.”

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