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Name: Payton
Status: other
Grade: other
Location: Outside U.S.
Country: USA
Date: Summer 2009
Question:
Does an unusual amount of pine cone population dictact a definable change in weather


Replies:
Many folk tales of weather prediction by plants and animals have circulated for centuries. And present condition of a plant can only reflect what has happened before, and cannot predict the future.

J. Elliott

There are natural cycles in pine cone production called mast years:

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/bot00/bot00205.htm

Sincerely,

Anthony R. Brach
Missouri Botanical Garden

The weather is always changing so it is difficult to correlate particular weather patterns to the abundance of pine cones.

Jim Tokuhisa, Ph.D.
Asst Professor of Horticulture
Virginia Tech


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