The kinda wisdom grandmothers
impart:
When the moon wears a halo around her head, she
will cry before morning and the tears
will reach you tomorrow.
It's raining, it's pouring, the old man
is snoring. Yes, this old phrase is actually
folklore related.
When it snows, the old woman is
plucking her white geese.
There's news in the wind! Thanks Grandma, your
sense of humour is still intact. I
now know that you're referring to the letters on the
weather vane spelling out NEWS.
The kinda stuff wise good ole dad would
tell you:
Crickets are accurate thermometers; they
chirp faster when it's warm and slower when it's
cold. This is actually true...if you count the
chirps of a cricket for fourteen seconds and add
forty to the number, you'll have the
temperature.
When ants travel in a straight line, expect
rain; when ants scatter, expect
fair weather. This might be a combination of
two other sayings...people who live in the
Ozark Mountains say "Bugs march when the
rain is near" and Maine folklore has it that
"Flies scatter in good weather."
The higher the clouds, the better the
weather. True! High clouds show drier air and
higher pressure in the atmosphere. Both
conditions are present when the weather is fair.
When the squirrels lay in a big store of
nuts, look for a hard winter.
False, though people do still pay mind to the
squirrels. But some years the just get
lucky and find more.
When sheep collect and huddle, tomorrow
will be a puddle. Not sure whether this is true or not, but it originates from the old West. Native Americans said it another way: "When
the buffalo band together, the storm god is herding
them." Anyone happen to know who the Native
American storm god is?
When you can just hang your powder horn on the moon,
do just that. Native Americans believed this was
true. They did most of their hunting when the ground
was wet. When the moon's horns were upright enough to
'hang something on one,' they thought the woods would
be dry for want of rain. So they hung up their powder
horns and stayed home.
Near the surface, quick to bite, catch your fish when
rain's in sight. This saying is quite possibly
true. Fish in fresh water and in salt water do seem
to bite more just before it starts to rain. Any
fishermen out there care to comment?
If corn husks are thicker than usual, a cold winter is
ahead. Possibly true. Corn grows a thicker husk
after a summer of wet, warm weather. Sometimes a
cold, dry winter follows that kind of summer. The
people of Pennsylvania used to say, "When the corn
wears a heavy coat, so must you."