Persimmon Seeds, Woolly Worms--Looking To Nature To Predict Winter Weather

The cold air is here, but Green Country is still a month away from the official start of winter.

This week's arctic blast might have you wondering what exactly winter has in store, so we turned to some folklore for the forecast.

Long before we looked to radars and weather centers or smart phones and iPads for the forecast, nature did the predicting, and it still is.

We made a trip to the woods to find some persimmon trees. The folklore is, when you split open the seeds, winter's secret is inside.

The seeds are little slippery, but with some patience, we finally cut one open without cutting our own fingers.

The kernels create a shape. If you see a knife, folklore says you can expect to be "cut" by icy, cutting winds. A fork would give you a mild winter with light, powdery snow. Then there's the spoon--it suggests you better buy a shovel, because lots of heavy, wet snow will fall.

We found a few spoons.

But persimmon seeds are not the only natural weather predictor. There's also the woolly bear caterpillar. According to folklore, the browner, the better, if you're hoping for a mild winter. The more black there is on the worm, the more severe the winter.

The woolly worms we've seen are mostly brown.

Finally, there's "The Farmer's Almanac," the book many farmers and ranchers swear by. This year, it is predicting a frosty and wet winter.

Only time will tell.