I agree that amount of rain could affect the output of acorns from what I've observed here on the farm over the last three years.

We had a bumper crop last year--the biggest I've ever seen and the biggest my aged parents had ever seen. It was wall-to-wall acorn; it was as though someone had opened up a ten-acre-across, enormous can of acorns; it was ten acres of acorn macrame, and I ain't foolin' 'round with the accent.

Anyway, that acorn crop followed a very dry season. This past summer was extremely wet--and we haven't many acorns. Of course, this could be a classic example of post hoc ergo propter hoc.

The old wives say that when the acorn crop is heavy, there will be a hard winter. We had a very hard winter--the hardest in years. Post hoc ergo propter hoc. Perhaps.

Anyway, based on the old wives, we should have a mild winter. We'll see. If we have a mild winter, then there you go!!!! The old wives were right!!!! That is until we have a season of few acorns followed by a hard winter. The old wives will say, "Yeah, but the wooly worms were heavily coated, and wooly worms can rule acorn thin acorn crop!"

However, all that old wives' tales information aside, if your acorn crop is heavy, do notice whether it's a white acorn crop or a red one. If it's the white acorn crop, then David Attenborough says the gray squirrels will be biting the germinating end off the white acorns like crazy. That is, if you have gray squirrels where you live. They might just be all-American squirrels. He didn't mention other species of squirrels and their various predilection towards biting off the germinating ends of white acorns in bumper crop years.