LADYBUG...FOLKLORE HAS LONG HELPED TO PREDICT EXTREMES OF WEATHER

Now about that snow in October!

How many of you can recall a 3- to 4-inch snow in the tenth month of the year? Flurries, yes, but real snow, whitening our football games and covering autumn's flowers and gardens with a white blanket? Not in our memory.

There was one report that this happened last in 1925. We don't remember, so we'll accept the report on the theory if it happened this time, it must have happened before.

Folklore must have had something to say about an October snow. It has about almost everything dealing with the weather and seasons. Read on.

There is much folklore about the weather and how to predict the season and what to expect during different periods. Folklore, you know, is beliefs and stories handed down through the years from generation to generation. Since it was not a written word, and we know how tales passed from one to the other can be changed, these stories and legends cannot always be relied upon and are not necessarily based upon truths.

Ancient persons had stories to explain why it is cold in winter, hot in summer and why leaves change in autumn. Some they made up, and some of these are called legends, myths or fables. Anyway, the following are some pertaining to weather that have been around for a long time.

Pioneers and Indians watched the sun and the moon for planting of their crops and the best time to harvest them. They noticed the kinds of weather which followed the entrance of the moon into its quarters and from these observations came the many tales and prophecy of the coming weather.

Our forefathers spoke of calculating the coming winters by the katydids in summer, when hornets nest near the ground or high in the trees, the wooly worms, squirrels hoarding nuts and the seeds of persimmons are some of the most popular sayings.

It is said that when you hear the first katydid, it will be three months until frost.

If hornets nests lot to the ground, do not expect much snow that winter, but if hornets' nests are high in the trees, there will be a lot fo snow.

Wooly worms that are almost all black predict a cold winter. If the front third of the caterpillar is black, the next part is lighter and the latter third is black. That means there will be mild weather at the first of winter, then very cold and then mild weather again.

Persimmons, some say, are the best indicator of the coming winter weather. The persimmon seed contains the image of spoon, a fork, or a knife. Each of the different emblems is an indicator of the coming winter weather.

The fork means a mild winter. The knife stands for cold, sharp winter, but not very long, and the spoon, like the snow shovel, indicates lots of snow.

Considering the amount of persimmons this year, one should find enough of each emblem to prove his point.

If trees are heavily laden with fruits and nuts, it is to provide food for birds and animals during the unusually cold winter that is coming.

When the first snowfall remains on the ground for some time in places not exposed to the sun, expect a hard winter. And when the snow remains on the ground for an unusually lone time, it is waiting for another.

When corn shucks are tight, expect a bad winter.

Heavy snow in winter favors the crops the following summer.

When there is a circle around the moon and the stars in that circle, that is how many more days before the next rain or snow.

It takes three cloudy days to bring a heavy snow.

Predictions have started early this year regarding the type of winter we may expect. According to the date of the first frost, the early unseasonal snow on Oct. 29 and the tales of those who know that old time folklore, this may be a winter to establish some records.

The forecaster from the Paducah area, who has been predicting weather of winter for the past 28 years, says this winter will bring more snow than we have seen for several years. He has predicted a total of 23 inches for the winter.