Most of the time, when someone spots a squirrel with a bushy tail, you’ll inevitably hear the comment that there must be a harsh winter coming. The same is said to be true about their nut-gathering habits: if they tend to gather a greater abundance of acorns during the autumn months, then folks interpret that to mean that the winter will be tough. In both of these cases, however, there’s been no actual proof that this is true, although it is odd that their tails do seem to be at their bushiest immediately preceding a hard winter season.
The next time someone tells you that they can feel inclement weather coming, don’t doubt for a moment that they know what they’re talking about. Maybe their corns ache, their hair is drooping, they just caught a whiff of ozone in the air – or, maybe, they just saw a bushy-tailed squirrel run by. Through whatever means, some folks just seem to be human weather stations, and are often correct in their predictions about the atmospheric events of the day.