WINTER WORM: McKean County is at the very edge of a narrow swath
of territory that looks to separate the men from the boys this
winter.

So says the Old Farmers Almanac which is predicting a warmer
than average winter in much of the country, and below average
snowfall – except for that swath.

And that swath, which runs from northeast Texas to northern New
England, should see more than normal snowfall. Looking at the map,
we’d guess most of our readers will be keeping the snow shovel
handy.

But who are we to fall for such unscientific predictions when we
can ask the woolly bear caterpillar for his guess about the coming
winter?

She writes, “Today, I found a brown and black woolly worm which
appears to predict a rather normal winter for this part of the
county.”

We would tend to agree with her “interpretation” of the worm’s
coloration.

She adds, “Winter weather predictions abound at this time of
year and a few days ago Doris Nourse of East Smethport questioned
me as to the significance of an ‘albino woolly worm’ that she found
in her yard.

“I have no knowledge as to what weather prediction an ‘albino
woolly worm’ might have. Maybe some of your readers might have that
knowledge?”

Readers? We’ve been asked this before and don’t know if means no
snow, or all snow.

Mrs. Peterson goes on: “I find it interesting that in Banner
Elk, N.C., in October, they have a woolly worm festival which is
probably much like our Punxsutawney Phil who predicts the arrival
of spring weather in Pennsylvania.”

Back to the Farmers Almanac for a minute. It claims years which
end in “8” always have weird weather – the frigid winters of 1748
and 1888, tornadoes of 1908, Northwest floods and the Northeast
hurricane of 1938.

Publisher John Pierce said, “At the very least, we expected it
to be the warmest year in the last century overall, so people will
talk about it for that reason alone.”