February 17, 2026: Tennessee's famous weather forecaster

Would you trust a winter forecast based on worms and spider webs?On this date in 2000, Tennessee lost Helen Lane, the remarkable weather forecaster who used old-fashioned observations of nature to make predictions — and became nationally known.Plus the local news for February 17, 2026 and a feature on a local rapper who contains multitudes.Related reading: WDEF archives: Winter Forecasting with Helen Lane (1990) TIME Magazine: Watch for Huddling Spiders (1998) Legislative resolution honoring Helen Lane (2000)   Credits: This is a production of Nashville Public Radio.Host/producer: Tony GonzalezEditor: LaTonya TurnerAdditional support: Mack Linebaugh, Megan Jones and the staff of WPLN and WNXP