Pretty much everybody knows that in Poland? The late summer/early autumn is called "Babie lato" (old women's summer) because of thousands of such threads flying in the air and catching on trees etc.
It's both a name of the behavior and of that time of year.
I haven't really noticed that phenomenon in years though now that I live in a city, I wonder if these expressions will just eventually disappear once too few people live in the countryside.