WINTER WEATHER SPECIAL: Exploring how nature can predict the weather
Cold air is coming and fall decorations are being replaced by Christmas lights, trees are starting to look bare, and birds are becoming fewer as the days get shorter.
Nature always gives us signs of the changing seasons, but can plants and animals really predict the weather?
"You said maybe the crickets starting to chirp more or quieting down, is there any truth to any of these myths? 'Well, that's true, crickets are more active when it's warmer and things like that, but as far as insects predicting the weather, there's really no scientific evidence about that. You're probably really better of listening to your meteorologist," said Kevin Lohraff, Manager at Runge Nature Center in Jefferson City.
Many of us swear by the wooly worm to give us a clue into the upcoming winter. The problem is, there are 60 different types of tiger moths in Missouri that start out as the "wooly bear" or "wooly worm" caterpillar.
"There's no way to tell what species you're looking at or even if that's the one that's supposed to predict the weather. Some people say if there's a darker color on each end and more light color in the middle you'll have a mild winter. Some people say it depends on their fur, the thicker the fur, the colder the winter," said Lohraff.
Another common winter predictor that comes up every season is what the inside of a persimmon seed looks like. If it looks like a fork, that signals a mild winter. Spoon points to lots of snow, and knife means cutting cold is coming our way.
Lohraff said, "It's just something kind of fun, as you can imagine, depending on exactly where your knife goes in that seed, it may look like different things. If you imagine a spoon, but if you cut it like this it's probably going to look like a knife. Also, you can find a knife, spoon, and fork from the same tree."
A question I often get asked when the first blast of cold air moves in is "will it kill all of the bugs?"
"Some insects do [die], some insects just become more active when it's warm. But remember, some insects spend the winter as an egg, most people aren't going to notice that. Or even as a larva or a pupa. A lot of times people don't see those and think they've died but they really haven't, they're just spending winter in another form that people aren't used to seeing."
Lohraff said it's tough to draw conclusions about changes in insect habits due to climate change since they're not studied well unless they pose a threat to the environment or our livelihood. However, warmer stretches within winter can cause some insects to reappear briefly before laying low again until spring.
