This Bird’s Early Return Warns of a Harsh Missouri Winter

If you believe that nature will help you anticipate incoming weather, you should pay attention to the early arrival of a bird that could mean Missouri is in for a harsh winter ahead.

This bird appeared in the yard of our Missouri home today

This is a slate-colored dark-eyed Junco. I was not aware of this, but this small bird is the original snowbird according to the National Audubon Society. Dark-eyed Juncos love cold weather and snow. You normally won't see them in Missouri until November or December. The Missouri Department of Conservation says that dark-eyed Juncos arrive at the start of winter. Those that believe nature will alert you about incoming weather believe that the early arrival of a dark-eyed Junco translates into the expectation for an unusually brutal winter.

Are there any other indications or forecasts about Missouri's winter being colder or snowier than normal?

The timing of this little bird's arrival in our yard is interesting because earlier this morning before my wife spotted him I saw a new winter outlook from meteorologist Travis Roberts who was pointing out that a La Niña winter had officially began and the jet stream patterns were showing Missouri in the path of possibly frequent storms during the winter months.

I'll emphasize the same thing that he did in his video (which I highly recommend watching). Any winter outlook in October is mainly for fun as we won't really know what patterns will take over until it's actually winter in December. But, it's interesting that some winter outlooks and nature are now in agreement that Missouri's upcoming winter months bear watching. Do the little dark-eyed Juncos know something the rest of us don't? We'll find out soon enough.