Persimmon seeds have long been used to forecast how cold and snowy the upcoming winter will be! Many people would put the persimmon seeds and the woolly worms at the top of the winter weather forecasting folklore. In fact, the Farmer's Almanac even makes a statement about the forecasting power of the Persimmon seed...

"According to old-timers, persimmon seeds can be used to predict the severity of winter weather. When cut into two pieces, the persimmon seed will display one of three symbols. A knife shape will indicate a cold icy winter (where wind will cut through you like a knife). A fork shape indicates a mild winter. A spoon shape stands for a shovel to dig out the snow."

We've started getting pictures of the persimmon seeds from this year. 

So what does that say about our winter? The spoon shape indicates a snowy winter. The first image could be argued to be a fork which would mean a mild winter. So far I haven't seen any images of knives. 

As with all folklore, people will have different opinions. I think this is one of those situations where you can probably bend the folklore to meet the actual winter conditions, so I am not a big believer. You can click here to see our Winter Weather Outlook for a better idea of what to expect this season.