Why am I looking at your belly button fluff ?? And what relation does it have to winter. ??

That's not a wooliebear , that looks like one of those that sting you if you pick it up.

It's a variation ...we only have one type here.

The white stripe is usually indicative of the winters severity or length

This one is all white. Usually black on each side.

Woolly Bear Folklore:




According to folklore, the amount of black on the woolly bear in autumn varies proportionately with the severity of the coming winter in the locality where the caterpillar is found. The longer the woolly bear's black bands, the longer, colder, snowier, and more severe the winter will be. Similarly, the wider the middle brown band is associated with a milder upcoming winter. The position of the longest dark bands supposedly indicates which part of winter will be coldest or hardest. If the head end of the caterpillar is dark, the beginning of winter will be severe. If the tail end is dark, the end of winter will be cold. In addition, the woolly bear caterpillar has 13 segments to its body, which traditional forecasters say correspond to the 13 weeks of winter.

As with most folklore, there are 2 other versions to this story. The first one says that the woolly bear caterpillar's coat will indicate the upcoming winter's severity. So, if its coat is very woolly, it will be a cold winter. The final version deals with the woolly bear caterpillar's direction of travel of the worms. It is said that woolly bear's crawling in a southerly direction are trying to escape the cold winter conditions of the north. On the other hand, woolly bear's crawling on a northward path would indicate a mild winter.

Yellow Bear Folklore:




According to folklore, someone would assume a mild upcoming winter from seeing the caterpillar above, but in actuality this is a Yellow Bear Caterpillar (Spilosama virginica). This caterpillar always looks like this regardless of what happens during the upcoming winter. It is found across the United States, Canada, and Eastern Mexico. This picture came from Wagner, David L., Valerie Giles, Richard C. Reardon, and Michael L. McManus. 1997. Caterpillars of Eastern Forests. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team, Morgantown, West Virginia. FHTET-96-34. 113 pp. Jamestown, ND: Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center Home Page.
According to folklore, someone would assume a mild upcoming winter from seeing the caterpillar above, but in actuality this is a Yellow Bear Caterpillar (Spilosama virginica). This caterpillar always looks like this regardless of what happens during the upcoming winter. It is found across the United States, Canada, and Eastern Mexico.


Garry-

So I had the folklore backkAckwards

Looks like a Mangy caterpillar.Put it out of its misery !!