NYS Museum Autumn in rural New York is enriched by encounters with banded woolly bear caterpillars crossing roads and paths in an endless and rapid march, their true size magnified by a heavy coat of hair and long, black shadows cast upon the pavement. These bold and conspicuous beasts, making their appearance just before the onset of winter, have become subjects of popular weather lore, children s literature, and nature study texts. Woolly bear caterpillar In earlier times, when most Americans were involved in agricultural pursuits, the nation s welfare was defined by the weather, and severe winters had severe consequences. Folks living close to nature observed how plants and animals seemed to prepare for winter.
Weather folklore is rich with insect and spider motifs.
Large numbers of spiders or crickets in the house foretell of cold winters. Bees prepare an unusually large store of honey before a severe winter. Flies seeking shelter in early autumn are harbingers of frosty mornings and cold storms. But our most famous six-legged weather prophets are woolly bear caterpillars, which are said to predict the severity of the coming winter by the relative widths of their black and brown bands. Each of its three thoracic and ten abdominal segments is ringed by tufts of long, stiff, barbed spines or setae that arise from closely spaced tubercles on the black integument.