BY REBECCA FRENCH SMITH

It’s interesting how as you get older your wish for winter weather changes. Every winter my sons’ fervent wish is that the skies will open up and dump several inches of cold, wet snow so they can stay home from school. Once upon a time, that was my wish, too, but now, my biggest wish is, if it happens, it happens on a Friday night so the roads will be clear by the time I need to go to work again. If it must snow, at least it should be convenient; unfortunately, we don’t always get what we wish for, either of us.

So, this year, for fun, we’ve embarked on a little experiment: how to gauge what the winter will bring. Apparently, predicting how harsh or mild winter will be is somewhat of a hobby for some. Folklore cues are taken from acorn shells to squirrels and foggy mornings in August to rodents and bird migrations.

Through the years, scientists have done studies on some of these tales to gauge their validity. Most have some sort of elusive truth to them. In a modern world, we’re fortunate to have science and technology guiding us, but even then forecasters fall back on the uncertainty clause, because, really, until it’s over, it’s anyone’s guess. What we do know is it will be colder, and if precipitation falls, it will likely be a frozen variety.

Since I missed counting the foggy mornings in August, I’m relying on persimmons and woolly bears for the experiment. The persimmon tree in my yard produced ample fruit to dissect. The saying goes, if you cut open a persimmon seed you will see one of three things: a spoon, a fork or a knife. Those utensils are indicators of the types of precipitation that will come. Let’s just say, my boys were elated — spoons. Spoons mean wet snow, i.e. you’ll need a shovel. Forks mean powdery light snow and knives mean icy winds. We cracked about a dozen seeds and had about 90 percent spoons.

As for woolly bears, the caterpillar of the Isabella tiger moth, they’re pointing to a milder winter. Their rust-colored bands are pretty wide in our neck of the woods, though I’m not sure what their definition of “mild” is. A narrow band would indicate a harsh winter.

The weather forecasters are saying that the polar vortex won’t likely be visiting us again this year, thank goodness. But, we’ll see. It depends on what your definition of “polar vortex” is and for that matter what your definitions of “mild” and “harsh” are. Winter is in the eye of the beholder, so you just might get what you wish for.

As for my experiment, we’ll have to wait until next spring to find out, but truth be told, I’m wishing for snow, too.

Rebecca French Smith, of Columbia, Mo., is a multimedia specialist for the Missouri Farm Bureau, the state’s largest farm organization.
– See more at: http://www.mofb.org/NewsMedia/CuttotheChase.aspx#sthash.bTUBucrv.dpuf