Would that mean a snow free winter?įITF Fans: Does this mean a very harsh winter ahead? There are 260 known species of tiger moths.ĭoes that mean we are in for a Polar Vortex followed by Ice Age conditions? Faith in the Flakes! I’ve even seen a few all light brown or blonde. The caterpillar can molt or shed its skin up to 6 times, each one getting a little more orange. However, there is some winter weather folklore that would correlate the summer season and cross to winter snow, so there still could be a connection. So the color actually shows the prior growing season. The result is a lager caterpillar and smaller orange band. The bands are determined by how long the caterpillar has been feeding, age, and species.Ī better growing season means it ate more.

The Black Bands: The thicker or more dominant these are means a longer and harsher winter ahead.

The Orange Band: This stripe in the middle will be wider when the upcoming winter is expected to be mild.The wider the brown (middle) band on a woolly bear caterpillar, the milder the winter? This is the early phase in the life cycle of what will become a tiger moth. It has even been called a Hedgehog Caterpillar because it curls up into a ball for protection and plays dead. Since we are in the heart of Fall, let’s focus on the Woolly Bear, also known as Fuzzy Bear or Woolly Worm.

Mid winter the spotlight goes to Punxsutawney Phil, that groundhog in western Pennsylvania. Before the season Woolly Bear Caterpillar spotting is a very common pastime. In the Northeast US there are two creatures in nature that are most popular in foretelling a long range winter weather outlook.

Download brown wooly caterpillar