Predicting Winter Weather: Woolly Bear Caterpillars - Update For 2023

- Playlist - What I saw on my Bike Ride Today Thursday, July 6, 2023 Can #WoollyWorm Predict Winter Weather? You tell me. Pyrrharctia isabella, the isabella tiger moth, banded woolly bear or just woollybear The woolly bear caterpillar—with its 13 distinct segments of black and reddish-brown—has the reputation of being able to forecast the coming winter weather. Here are the history, facts, and lore about this legendary caterpillar. How the Woolly Bear Became “Famous“ In the fall of 1948, Dr. C. H. Curran, curator of insects at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, took his wife 40 miles north of the city to Bear Mountain State Park to look at woolly bear caterpillars. Dr. Curran collected as many caterpillars as he could in a day, determined the average number of reddish-brown segments, a