Winter Weather Predicted By A Persimmon Seed

As the holidays come closer and the weather grows cold, everyone begins to wonder what the winter will hold. Will it be cold, bitter cold or warm? Will it be a wet winter or a dry one? Will we have ice, snow or both? How much snow? How much ice? Will it be a long winter or a short winter? Can anyone really know? Well...my grandmother told me once long ago that the persimmon seed can predict the weather. She was right! I have tested and learned.

The persimmons ripen in the late fall. The leaves often are completely off the tree and the limbs are heavy laden with fruit. On the ground you will find fruit, persimmons, that have ripened and fallen from the branches. Gather up a hand full of persimmons and the weather prediction begins. Remove the seeds from the fruit. Wipe the flesh of the fruit off of the seed using a napkin. There is a protective coating around the seed. Puncture this coating and remove it. The seed has an indention on the edge of it. Using a sharp knife, gently cut the seed into half following that indention.

The inside of the seed will have an opaque filling. In the center is a white stem-like structure which strongly resembles a piece of silverware. There is a weather predictor for each silverware symbol. It is said that the weather will follow this prediction. I have found that to be true for the past 5 years.

If the center of the seed resembles a fork, the weather will be mild. There will be light and fluffy snow WHEN, and if, it snows. There will be little, if any, ice. The overall weather outlook is mild.

If the center of the seed resembles a knife, the winter will be icy. There will be serious bouts of ice. The last time we had a knife in the persimmon seed we had significant ice! We had 4 inches of ice with 2 inches of snow on top. The tree limbs broke and sounded like gunshots piercing the night. It struck at 3 a.m. and literally crippled our entire area. Many people were without electricity for a week or more. It was awful! My home is all electric - no heat, no power, and no water was NO fun! We spent the week with my parents who had a fireplace and a gas stove. We melted ice to use to flush the toilet! The roads were impassable and there was no supplies coming into our area either! It brought out the survivor in all of us!

If the center of the seed resembles a spoon, the winter will be snowy. HEAVY snow! The last two times we had spoons we had significant snow! We had almost three feet of snow in one snowfall, in the middle of the heartland!! Not a normal winter by far!

It is said that fruit that bear multiple seeds mean a more intense level of the weather predicted.

This year, 2011, we went out and picked up several persimmons. Following the forecasting tradition, we wrote down on our calendar our results. We checked two persimmons. One had two seeds. A more intense version of the prediction. The other persimmon had FIVE seeds!!! OH NO!!! Now what did the seeds hold inside? What will the weather be this winter?

Spoons! EVERY seed held a spoon! With every seed there was a spoon. Each persimmon had multiple seeds. More intense and significant snow. That is the persimmons' prediction for the winter of 2011-12. Will it hold true yet another year? We will see. Watch with me!

By the way, I am going to buy a new snow shovel. The persimmon held true last year with record snowfalls resulting in a broken snow shovel. I am expecting it to be true yet again this year and will need to be prepared.

Well....I gathered up 8 persimmons and in those 8 there were a grand total of 19 seeds!! One fruit had 5 seeds, several had 3 seeds and we all know that leads to the potentially intensified prediction. That being said, let's recap Winter 2011-2012. We had serious spoons show in the fruit AND multiple seeds. Our winter however.....stalled out! Here in Kansas, we experienced a very mild winter with little snow, ice or ANY type of weather! We had a cold spell or two with bitter cold temps, but not long ones nor were they very frequent. To have correctly predicted this winter, we should have had some forks. Forks represent mild weather. It is amazing how God's creation can duplicate silverware tools that we have on our tables! Or....maybe amazing how our ancestors duplicated the tools shown in the persimmon. In the persimmon's defense, the record breaking snow occurred in January of 2011....so 2011 DID have serious snow! Anyway, I was disappointed somewhat, as I really did buy that shovel!

Now, the persimmon prediction for 2012-2013 is mixed. I have added pictures to show the current 2012-2013 weather prediction for here in Kansas. Of the 19 seeds, 3 were absolutely blank. No prediction from them. Curious? Possibly...but they were from the same fruit. To my knowledge there is no significant meaning behind them. Then I had 9 seeds that showed spoons. Spoons tell us there will be significant snow. What else did I find? Some knives!! Yes...knives! Knives represent ice. 7 seeds had very distinct knives. I hope those are wrong! Ice is never a good thing for weather! I am actually hoping the persimmon is wrong about the ice, but I want them to be right for my Grandmother's sake! Hmmmm....what a dilemma!

Do you have persimmons? Check them out and let us know what you find! I will update and we'll see how the persimmon plays out!

Well....this year the persimmon did not disappoint! As a matter of fact, it was more accurate than Little Phil the groundhog! We have had several good sized snowfalls. Kansas City, has an average snowfall of about 15 inches each year. This year, before March 1st, we have already had 25.5 inches of snow according to the National Weather Service. Since March 1st, Kansas City has had, through today, Palm Sunday, March 23rd, an additional 6.5 inches of snow bringing this winter up to 32 inches so far. The records record October through April being considered a winter. I am curious to see where totals of the winter of 2012-13 will finally end. We are sneaking up on double the average. I do want to note that along with the snow, yes...each time there has been ice, so that also validates those knives the persimmons showed.

We did have thunder in February, and the saying is Thunder in February....Frost in May! But that is another story! For now, we bow in respect to the accuracy of the persimmon.

Text and Photo Copyright 2011, 2012 Deborah M. Carey