Hey, how do you like our run of 80-degree high temperatures? Impressive, don’t you think? We talked about this a month ago in my column, about how we can still get warm weather in the first half of October. Not uncommon in the least. The current stretch, though, is the warmest since about 1993. And we have managed to get into the mid-80s, with a couple reports Sunday and Monday of near 90 — unofficially, of course. The warm weather has caused the influx of stink bugs to be rather aggressive, making their way into for homes for the winter. They know it is going to get cold.
Today may be our last 80-degree day this year as a change in the weather pattern is looking more likely. By the weekend we get a flow of moist air off the ocean with an increasing chance of rain, maybe moderate. The heaviest will be up to our north. We’ll see if high pressure rebuilds next week but right now most computer forecast models are keeping us damp.
Weather enthusiast Rob Woodard sent me a message the other day about his search for the woolly bear caterpillars. He saw about 20 of them between Battle Ground Lake and Hockinson. They averaged about four segments of orange with more black bands in the front.
By going along with extensive folklore on the subject, I would say this is leaning toward a winter maybe trending toward cooler than normal in the latter half of the season. Studies have shown that if the orange band is toward the rear of the critter that is when the cold or mild spell will occur. So maybe we will turn chilly in January of February? Usually I like to see two or three bands of orange, which calls for a cold winter. Four segments could go either way but I like to lean toward the cooler side of things. Five or more almost always mean a mild winter. I have been doing this for nearly 40 years, mainly for fun. Nothing scientific, of course. Insect experts say the orange bands are a reflection of the previous winter as these little crawlers winter over before transitioning into the Isabella moth.
