Volume 2, Number 2

(Acorns and the Weather)

As I sit in my warm house listening to the "Winter Storm Warning" being broadcast on the local airwaves, I'm reminded of the winter before last, '93-'94, when it seemed like we had a snow storm every other day. I think the news reported that there were over 22 storms in not many more days. It seemed like the snow never was off the ground until April of that year. I know that that's what happens in many areas of the country, yet that is not the norm on Long Island, where I live. Friends in Buffalo, NY kid around and ask me to visit for the summer. They tell me it lasts from July 15 to August 15 and it starts snowing on the 16th. Obviously it must feel like that to them.

I can remember the news reporters talking about the dreaded winter of '94-'95 as early as September '94. After the prior winter's heavy snow fall, they were all predicting at least a repeat or even worse. All types of authorities and meteorologists were cited to reinforce the claims of a horrible winter ahead. I tend to think the manufacturers of snow removal items had something to do with that promotion. I even remember hearing that the full production of snow blowers were sold out of the stores by the end of October. Need I remind you of the incredibly mild and snow-less winter we experienced last year on Long Island? They were all wrong in their dire predictions. All the advances in weather technology still can't be as accurate as we would like it to be. My son, through his love of nature has come up with the most reliable and fool proof system of all.

I grew up with a deep love of the outdoors. I was a Boy Scout and certainly did my share of camping and being close to nature. I realized that a certain amount of that love and respect for nature was passed on to my kids. Though my daughter joined in at times, my son and I spent lots of his growing up years on camping, fishing and canoeing trips. Now-a-days, we are constantly looking to find the time to recreate some of those wonderful experiences. We just can't seem to make it happen. In any event, it all happened one beautiful fall day while I was visiting him at his home in a wooded area of New Jersey.

We were walking around the property and he called to me to come over where he was standing. He asked me if I noticed anything out of the ordinary as I walked the 50 or so feet to get there. He pointed out the tremendous amount of acorns on the ground. I couldn't take a step without hearing them cracking under foot. He asked me to try to remember any time when there were so many all over the ground and I couldn't. The amount was really extraordinary. He then made the connection that was easy to see, once pointed out. You know, the proverbial forest for the trees. He said that it was clear to him that all those acorns meant that we were going to have a hell of a bad winter. Mother nature was telling the animals to stock up for the coming season as they would need it to survive. She was providing an abnormal amount of food.

As I recently sat inside my warm house watching the largest snowstorm of 'ever', I remembered the proliferation of acorns on the ground and my son's winter weather forecast. We had already had more than a normal amount of snowfall and this most recent one was breaking all records. I joked about not getting out of the house until April. With all the new technology developed to predict the weather, no one ever thought about counting the Acorns... How Come?