Cool Mornings and Sunny Days Bring Fall Colors

Reader Contribution by Ginnie Baker
Published on September 30, 2014
1 / 8
2 / 8
3 / 8
4 / 8
5 / 8
6 / 8
7 / 8
8 / 8

The shorter days and the cool mornings are really bringing out the fall colors in the trees here in the Valley. This is a beautiful time of year. I hope the weather will hold and the trees will have a chance to turn their wonderful colors before the leaves fall.

There are definite signs that the cold weather is on the way. I like to watch the wildlife as the season’s change, especially when cold weather is looming. Today, I saw the first woolly bear! It seems very early for those guys to be looking for a place to hibernate for the winter.

I never remember what the brown band means, whether it’s thick or thin, but this what Wikipedia has to say:

Folklore of the eastern United States and Canada holds that the relative amounts of brown and black on the skin of a Woolly Bear caterpillar (commonly abundant in the fall) are an indication of the severity of the coming winter. It is believed that if a Woolly Bear caterpillar’s brown stripe is thick, the winter weather will be mild and if the brown stripe is narrow, the winter will be severe. In reality, hatchlings from the same clutch of eggs can display considerable variation in their color distribution, and the brown band tends to grow with age; if there is any truth to the tale, it is highly speculative.[5]

Online Store Logo
Need Help? Call 1-866-803-7096