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Weather Eye: As we warm up, a little more about those woolly bear caterpillars

By Patrick Timm
Published: September 25, 2016, 6:00am

Good day! How are you? You should be in a great mood, as the weather forecast calls for sunny skies and warm temperatures — in the 80s today and Monday. We are certainly blessed here in the great Northwest.

The weather turns cloudier and a cooling trend begins on Tuesday. A weak system moves through, but at this point, I doubt any rain will fall.

I mentioned the other day about the appearance of woolly bear caterpillars, and I had a few inquiries as to what to look for on these furry little critters. The folklore says that the wider the middle orange band, the milder the winter weather will be. A narrow band would indicate a cold winter.

Four or fewer orange bands trends toward a cold winter, and five or more a mild winter, at least from my many years of seeking out these caterpillars. Then again, there’s nothing scientific about this, but it’s a good field project for the youngsters. Search the web for the woolly bears and you can read all about it.

It may turn much cooler as October rolls in next weekend, and it may last for 10 days or more. Any precipitation could be snow at about 5,000 feet in the Washington Cascades and northern Oregon Cascades.

How are we doing so far this month? The average mean temperature for Vancouver is 61.7 degrees, 3 degrees below average. Total precipitation was 1.15 inches, 0.17 above average. Despite the two warm days on tap, I think we’ll end September a little cooler and with less rainfall than the average.

The warmest day this month was 85 degrees Sept. 10. Maybe we’ll beat that Monday.

Patrick Timm is a local weather specialist. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Reach him at http://patricktimm.com

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