Winter Weather Lore and Wasps’ Nests
More signs from nature of what we can expect for the winter ahead include how the wasps are building their nests. What are they doing in your back yard?
A couple of years ago, the facilities manager here at Farmers’ Almanac mentioned that he was sure we would be having a snowy winter here in Maine. When asked how he knew, he mentioned the height of wasps’ nests he was seeing. In his travels around the property, he spotted a nest built high in the eaves of one of the buildings.
So, in addition to the signs of a hard winter shared we can add the height of a wasp nest as another sign from nature to watch.
What Does Weather Lore Say About Wasps’ Nests?
Weather lore tells us: If you see a wasps nest built low to the ground, expect little snow. If you see one built high, expect a lot of snow. The official weather lore rhyme goes like this:
See how high the hornet’s nest, ‘twill tell how high the snow will rest.
While we don’t use wasp’s nest in our formula to predict the weather, we do enjoy the folklore and paying attention to how our ancestors prepared for the winter ahead.
What about where you live? Have you seen wasps’ nests built up high or low to the ground?
Read more about wasps and how to deter them!
Peter Geiger
Peter Geiger is the Editor Emeritus of the Farmers' Almanac. Read his full biography.
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- Peter Geiger#molongui-disabled-link
- Peter Geiger#molongui-disabled-link
- Peter Geiger#molongui-disabled-link
They are in the ground what does that mean for winter
I have 2 nests within 50 yards of each other about 12′ to 15 ‘ from the ground…
I have seen more hornet nests this fall than ever before . Within a 1/4 mile of our house there are are six about twice a football size and 3 or 4 smaller ones. And they are anywhere from as low as 3 feet to 20-30 feet high in the trees.
i have seen 3 different heights of nests from trees so far i live in vt
Interesting! Be sure to watch for snowfall this winter. And remember, the saying comes from folklore, so it’s just a fun observation.
We have NONE around our farm this year, unless they are soooo high I don’t notice them. I’ll be looking. Manchester, Michigan
There is a hornets nest in my front bushes pretty close to the ground in Belvidere Illinois. I will be fascinated to see if there isn’t much snow this winter. It got shredded up by a skunk and they rebuilt it. That’s a detractor for building it so low. ?
We live in TAYMOUTH, NEW BRUNSWICK CANADA.
WEe have 2 hornets nests being built. One is on our deck behind a 4’ sign and the other is in our mailbox, 4’ off the ground.
We have one here in Marlboro, Me. It is built 40-50 feet off the ground!
’bout right for Maine!
We have one in Tennessee where we live and it’s big down the road way up up high in tree hangs over the road I thought if they hung high high that meant snow ⛄️ always was told that as a kid!!
We had a wasp nest about 10 to 12 feet high here in southwest pennsylvania. Our town is right at the bottom of the Chestnut ridge.
We’ll have to watch and see what happens in your neck of the woods!
Live in PA, have a huge one about 12 foot up in our tree, live at bottom of youngstown ridge.