pine cones as weather indicator
Posted by audrey drummond on August 26, 2006
Q: For many years I have been told the number of pine cones indicate what kind of winter we will have. Is this fact or fiction. Sure would appreciate an answer, I need it for school!
State: Alberta
A: It is true that the abundance of pine cones varies from year to year but there is no correlation between pine cone numbers and future weather conditions that I am aware of! In an attempt to understand, and even control, our world, humans like to have a way of predicting natural phenomena and so we come up with many different kinds of correlations - some valid but probably most are not.
I haven't heard about this particular correlation before so I'm not aware whether lots of cones means a cold winter or few cones means a cold winter. In any event, it would be interesting to look into this and see what the evidence shows. If there is some way to look at past years and their "cone production" for your area, you could compare this information with past winters to see if there is any merit in this belief. Might be an interesting project! Thanks for sharing.
John Wiessinger ( August 26, 2006)