Have you been wondering if it is going to be a mild or harsh winter this year? I have, and to help me out, I turned to the wooly bear caterpillar. After all this caterpillar is known for its ability to predict winter conditions.

In the 1600s, farmers relied on weather history to predict future weather. Therefore, farmers looked for something in nature to help them, and for winter conditions they found the wooly bear caterpillar.

Reports about the weather along with a comparison of wooly bear stripes made people think that the wooly bear's coat was a good winter weather indicator. According to legend, the thicker the middle reddish/brown band is the milder the winter will be. On the other hand, the thinner the band is the harsher the winter will be.

I have only seen a handful of wooly bears this fall, and all of them seem to have similar sized middle bands. So, if the folklore is true, then I would say that central New York is going to have a medium winter (somewhere between a mild and harsh) - so we may have a few flurries.

Woolly bears hatch from eggs laid by a female moth during warm weather. The caterpillars have black bands at either end of their bodies with a brown/red band in the middle giving the woolly bear its distinctive striped appearance.

To survive and grow, wooly bears feed on a variety of flowers, and tree leaves like asters, birches, dandelions and maples. Once they are mature, woolly bears disperse and search for wintering sites such as tree bark or inside cavities of rocks or logs. When spring arrives, woolly bears spin fuzzy cocoons and begin their transformation into moths. After the transformation, the wooly bear is no longer a bear; it is a tiger - an Isabella tiger moth to be exact.

Some say the bands of the wooly caterpillar can tell you where it “grew up.” Supposedly, wide black bands mean the caterpillar was living in wet conditions while a wide brown band means the caterpillar was living in dry conditions.

Others say the coloration of the caterpillar may be an indicator of its age and diet. As wooly bears molt (shed their skin), their color goes from mostly orange to the typical stripped look that is common in late fall.

No matter what your take is on the wooly bear's coloration, I am going to stick to the winter theory this year. Mainly because it is uplifting for me to think that we are going to have a medium winter rather than a harsh one! I really do not enjoy driving in blizzard conditions.

Renee Jensen is a community educator at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Cayuga County.