woolly bears

Late August is the time for woolly bear caterpillars to appear.  They always seem incredibly busy, in a hurry as they roll across my path in search of who knows what.
This caterpillar is the larval form of a moth:  Pyrrharctica isabella, the Isabella Tiger Moth.

Woolly bears hatch in the spring. Mature woolly bears search for overwintering sites under bark or inside cavities of rocks or logs. When spring arrives, they spin fuzzy cocoons and transform into moths.

 The moth, which has cream-coloured wings spotted with black, doesn't stand out from the crowd like its babies do.

The woolly bear usually is black with a band of orange in the middle.  According to folklore, the width of the bands can predict the severity of the coming winter:  the bigger the black bands, the colder it will be.

But this year, the woolly bears I come across are all orange, with not a bit of black to be seen. Does that mean we won't have a winter at all this year? All I know is that today is August 30, it's only 18 degrees C, and I have long pants and a sweater on. Looks like winter is on its way!

PS.  Here it is a month later, and I definitely have found woolly bears with the normal coloration:

defensive posture

I haven't seen another all-brown one since.