Folk sayings about weather

[launditch1]

Theres a shop near me that used to sell Norfolk weather stones.you would hang it up outside your door and it could predict the weather.

If its swingin'thass windy.

If its wet,thass rainen,

If its dry,that 'ent,

It went on but i cant remember the rest...

Some of the old boys used to say "thass gettin late earlier" around this time of year.

 

[Bushwhacker]

When the wind's from the East, the fish bite least.

Wind from the West, the fish bite best.

 

[MikeE]

Shewie, I don't understand that one -- maybe I'm being dense. Can you explain what it's referring to?

Is it leaf drop? Flower appearance?
Seed production?

 

[Humpback]

Red sky at night shepherd's delight

Red sky in the morning shepherd's warning

Meat and potatoes shepherd's pie

 

[gregorach]

The "oak before ash..." one refers to the opening of the leaf buds.

 

[Womble]

I've got a book which is a reprint of a early C20th - bought about 10 years ago - published by Senate called "Weather Lore".

it's full of folksayings about the weather from around the world. a bargain for £1.99!

 

[Cobweb]

I believe it refers to the impending rainfall in Spring, probably more of an old wives tale rather than actual fact.

I always thought it was about the dropping of the leaves in autumn...?

 

[gregorach]

That's the thing with a lot of these - nobody can agree on what they actually mean. I'm also sure I've heard a different version of "oak before ash" with the outcomes reversed, but I forget the exact wording...

Personally, I think I'll stick with the Met Office - they may not get it exactly right, but they're usually fairly close.

 

[treefrog]

Theres a shop near me that used to sell Norfolk weather stones.you would hang it up outside your door and it could predict the weather.

If its swingin'thass windy.

If its wet,thass rainen,

If its dry,that 'ent,

It went on but i cant remember the rest...

Some of the old boys used to say "thass gettin late earlier" around this time of year.

Hang a rock outside on a piece of string,
If the rock is wet.........it's raining
If the rock is swaying.....it's windy
if the rock is hot.....it's sunny
If the rock is cool.....it's overcast
If the rock is white.....it's snowing
If the rock is gone.....storm

 

[spiritwalker]

red sky at night shepherds delight
flooded sheep by morning global warming!

 

[tenderfoot]

The old farmers saying....

Red sky at night,
Get orf my land!

 

[rik_uk3]

Welsh saying

"If you can see across the valley its about to rain, if you can't its already raining"


"Red sky at night - the barns on fire"

 

[greeneggcat]

Wicked! some really good ones there, i will have to search out that book. If memory serves me right that article i read mentioned something about farmers in the alps using age old techniques, which even when factoring climate change in, were more accurate than the national met office!

I think they relied on natural " tells", including smell etc. I think i shall start a log book this year and try to learn some of them and put the knowledge to the test!

P.S how thick is the ponies coat this year CBJ ?

 

[Ogri the trog]

I heard one today about wet summers coming in fives.

..... so only another two washout years to go before we get a proper one then!

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[ShieldsOnTour]

"Red sky at night - shepherds delight, red sky in the morning - shepherds warning"

There is a pretty good reason for this being mostly true - at least in the UK.

We get _most_ of out weather coming in from the west (driven here across the atlantic by the gulf stream) and the sun rises in the east. The red colour in the sky is caused by the sun refracting from ice crystals high in the atmosphere (mostly).

Hence if its red at night (when the sun is setting in the west) it normally means that the sun light is shinning through a weather system that has already passed - hence it should be "nice" the next day.

If the red sky is in the morning (when the sun is rising in the east) it means the sunlight is refracting off ice crystals in an incoming weather system.

Its something like that anyway!