Encyclopedia of Country Living

Pyrrharctia isabella, or better known “Woolly Bear”
by Pam Risdon
Winter is coming. It’s inevitable . Every year my mother and I commiserate on this sad fact. We each recite aloud what we hate most about the winter. Mostly just about how we hate various months and the length of it all.
So as I was wandering around the yard yesterday I came upon a Woolly Bear caterpillar. Our little weather predictor. Decided to try and get a good close up image of em’, gotta admit those little buggers move fast!
Superstition has it, that depending upon the brown and black bands encircling the worm, the prognostication of winter will ensue. If you look into the Farmers Almanac, a pithy little news print resource for farmers that my sister believes in as the gospel, they give a sort of wacky account of his bands. “ If the middle band is fat and fuzzy a heavy winter will follow”. They all look pretty fat and fuzzy to me, they’re caterpillars.
Scientific background, “The Woolly Bear Caterpillar (Isia isabella, Pyrrharctia isabella) is a common caterpillar that has long setae (bristles). The amount of black in this caterpillar’s setae changes as the insect matures; the width of the red band in the mid-section of the caterpillar decreases with time. Some people use the amount of red in the Woolly Bear coat to predict the upcoming winter The Woolly Bear begins its life as a tiny egg that hatches into a small caterpillar (the larval stage). After eating and growing a tremendous amount, the caterpillar pupates, spinning a silky cocoon around itself and eventually metamorphosing into a yellow-brown moth called the Isabella Tiger Moth (an orange moth with cream-colored wings and black spots). The Woolly Bear eats grasses and forbs (small, herbaceous, non-woody broad-leaved vascular plants, like wild flowers). The adults and larvae of the tiger mother family are diurnal, that is, they are active during the daytime”.. (enchantedlearning.com)
They also have a sort of natural “anti-freeze” agent in their tiny system enabling them to over winter which is uncommon in Caterpillars. To survive winter freezes they produce a cryoprotectant in their tissues.

“A cryoprotectant is a substance that is used to protect biological tissue from freezing damage. Insects and other Arctic and Antarctic wildlife create cryoprotectants (antifreeze compounds and antifreeze proteins) in their bodies to minimize freezing damage during cold winter periods. Insects most often use sugars or polyols as cryoprotectants. Woolly worms can survive extreme cold temperatures because of the bristly hair that covers their entire body and their unique ability to produce an antifreeze-like coating made up of glycerol and other chemicals. Scientists estimate that Woolly worms can probably survive temperatures of up to 90 degrees below zero. In fact, live Woolly bears have been found frozen in a cube of ice.” http://www.gardening-for-wildlife.com.

A more common and straight forward account of his predication is that if there is more black than brown, a severe winter, and more brown than black, than the opposite. I tend to agree with the later. The Woolly Bear I saw recently was mostly brown, yippy! A mild winter will follow according to this mini puxatawny phil! No need to pack away the shorts and tee shirts, happy days!
I do not fully believe that anything in creation, including man can truly predict the weather. That’s the beauty of it, after all this evolution of electronic gadgetry and progress we still can’t control or predict the weather. But, that said I do remember seeing Woolly Bears last year, yes my short term memory fails me often when ever I leave one room and walk into another and ask myself “what am I doing in this room ?” But the Bears’ I saw last year were mostly black. A true distinction of bad weather to come. Now, I ask you, did we or didn’t we have a bad winter in aut 9’. Just like the Bear predicted. Two straight days of snow, city shut down, stores closed, power lines snapped, trees downed… need I continue.

There is actually a Woolly Worm Festival that occurs in Banner Elk, NC. Check out their web site if you’re interested. http://www.woollyworm.com
Seems the festival is pretty well attended, (I had no idea there was so much love for Woolly Bear Worms!) attracting 20,000 people every third weekend in October. Below is this winter weather prediction, according to the 2010 Woolly Worm Festival. By all accounts and purposes, looks like a pretty typical winter to me. I love their scientific hypothesis based on the “width and order” of the bugs stripes.

“Based on the width and order of the caterpillar’s black and brown stripes, Jack’s (I think Jack is the Worm du Jour ) forecast for the coming winter (starting with the winter solstice on December 21) says there will be cold and snow through the holidays and on into late January. There will be a bit of a warming trend in the last week of January and first week of February with a chance for ice. February will continue cold, becoming extremely cold in March. (see, I told you I hate March for good reason). The weeks leading to the spring equinox on March 20 will see the winter close with lots of snow.”

I must say the above predictions sound to me like every winter.
With all the “cold” and “snow and “ice” being thrown around, I guess it’s going to be to some degree or another winter whether we like it or not. Maybe I can borrow some the Woolly Bears antifreeze!