DAYTON — Lots of people around the Miami Valley are seeing the woolly worms out and about before the big winter season. Hey, it’s Stormcenter 7 Meteorologist Ryan Marando. What’s behind the folklore of the woolly worm and what could it mean for this winter season?
According to the National Weather Service, the longer the woolly worm’s black bands are the longer, colder, snowier, and more severe the winter ahead will be. They even point out if the head end or tail end of the caterpillar is exceptionally dark, it could mean the beginning or end of winter may be worse. The most interesting fact I found is the woolly worms have 13 segments to its body, which could correspond to the 13 weeks of winter!
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While this is a fun tale, the amount of black and brown on a woolly worm has more to do with the previous season rather than the upcoming one. The coloring mainly has to do with the caterpillar’s age, species, diet, and how good the growing season has been according to the National Weather Service. The fur coats in the winter actually don’t help protect them from the cold, instead it helps them freeze more controllably!
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We here at Stormcenter 7 are starting to work on our own winter forecast how the 2025-26 season could look like in the coming weeks.
