View from the Cab: Feeling the fall vibes

By Kent Casson

Now that we’ve had our first 48-degree morning in Central Illinois, I’m feeling the fall vibes.

You can’t beat what I call “hoody weather” where we have nights in the upper 40s with days struggling to reach 70. That’s about the perfect forecast, in my opinion and we could be getting some cooler weather for later September, according to a few of the long-range forecasts. This is ideal for the farmers looking to get crops out of the field or for fans taking in a football game.

Late August and early September was unusually hot for this time of year so it didn’t truly feel like harvest was around the corner, although the heat did speed up corn and soybean development to push us closer to harvest. Many have commented how quickly the corn has changed looks in recent weeks and beans are finally dropping leaves after staying green for a while.

I always enjoy the non-traditional weather outlooks we get each year from the Farmer’s Almanac or even the wooly worms – those little furry caterpillars crawling over everything this time of year. They are often used to predict what the upcoming winter will be like based on their color.

They say the darker those caterpillars are, the more cold and harsh winter will be, and we have seen quite a few dark ones on our farm. This could be right as weather experts are calling for one of the strongest El Nino winters in a long time. It makes one wonder if we will see a few artic blasts this winter or several inches of snow. Or, perhaps they have overdone it and we will get mild conditions.

Brown caterpillars indicate a warmer winter, according to folklore, and those with a combination of light and dark colors translates to winter starting off warm with things turning cold and harsh. You could interpret those extremely dark caterpillars as meaning “let’s go to Florida.” Thanks to a recent social media meme for the inspiration there.

I don’t know about you but the wooly worm population seems to be booming this year along with the other critters like crickets and grasshoppers. The cricket chirps are nonstop around our place and wooly worms have been crawling up and down our foundation and window wells on the house.

Thank goodness for bug spray. I have to keep telling myself the first frost will be here before we know it but it doesn’t need to get here so soon as many soybeans still have green and yellow leaves.

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