Oklahoma’s Persimmon Seeds Are Predicting A Snowy Winter

It's about this time every year that people across Oklahoma start cutting open persimmon seeds to see what kind of winter we're going to have.

It's one of those old weather traditions that refuses to go away, and I'm perfectly fine with that. Slice open the seed, and if you find a spoon, you're supposedly looking at a snowy winter. A fork means things should stay fairly mild, while the knife is there to tell you we're in for some extremely cold, cut-you-to-the-bone frigid weather.

At the end of summer 2026, the spoons are showing up across Oklahoma again.

Videos are starting to make the rounds with people cutting open Oklahoma persimmon seeds, and the overwhelming result seems to be spoon after spoon after spoon. If you buy into the old folklore, that's a pretty clear message: start thinking about where you put the snow shovel.

There's just one little problem with the persimmon forecast.

We did this last year.

The spoons were showing up in Oklahoma then, too, and we all know how that turned out. The winter of 2025-26 ended up being the warmest winter Oklahoma has ever recorded. Granted, we did get a big January icy snowstorm, but for the most part, winter was an awful lot of lake weather and not much of a winter at all.

So did that one big snowstorm save the persimmon prediction? It wasn't a record-breaking snow, but it was big by Oklahoma standards. Is that the snow last year's persimmons warned us about?

I'm not sure we should give it that much credit.

Now, here's where this year's spoon forecast gets a little more interesting.

The Persimmon Forecast Has Some Competition

The actual long-range weather outlooks aren't exactly screaming "bring on the blizzard." The Old Farmer's Almanac is calling for a warmer, drier winter across Texas and Oklahoma, with near-normal snowfall and the best chances for snow generally showing up in northern Oklahoma during parts of January and early February.

The Farmers' Almanac is looking at it a little differently, with a wetter southern tier and the possibility of winter storms bringing snow, sleet, or ice into Oklahoma and northern Texas. The even bigger phrase being tossed around our winter outlook right now is "Winter Battleground" for us. Apparently winter is going to be feast or famine in terms of snow and ice, but there's another element to consider, and it's the reason nobody agrees on the outlook.

El Niño.

El Niño Changes The Conversation

Historically, Oklahoma has experienced some very large snowstorms during El Niño years. Some really hot summers too. I think the general theme is "weather extremes."

So the persimmon spoons aren't exactly standing alone this time, but they aren't proving anything, either. The persimmon forecast is folklore, not meteorology, and the shape inside the seed is determined by the plant itself, not some tiny weather station hiding in there waiting to tell us what's coming.

Still, that's what makes this fun.

Last year, the spoons called for snow and Oklahoma mostly got a remarkably warm winter with one big snow that lingered on for two weeks. This year, the spoons are calling for snow again, but the larger weather pattern is considerably more interesting.

Either way, I'm not getting caught off-guard this year. Bought a snow shovel last spring during the markdown sales. Bought up the last of the cheap ice melt. Ready for the winter battleground everyone keeps talking about, but knowing how all this works... That pre-planning will likely give way to another warm and wonderful winter. That's just my luck. You're welcome.