For thousands of years, people have observed the weather and have written those observations down in weather almanacs, poems, songs, and proverbs. Many of the proverbs may lack actual knowledge of meteorology but they do have weather wisdom from many generations. There are quite a few of them, too! Here are just a few. From the English we have, “A snow year, a rich year”.
From the Middle East comes, “A cold spring kills the roses”. And “A mild winter, dry spring” comes from the French. The Germans have said, “Warm fall, long winter” and “When the butterfly comes, the summer comes” is from the Native Americans. “March windy, April rainy, clear and fair May will be” is phrase that comes from the English. And from America, “Every wind has its weather.” People also thought that animal behavior could predict the weather to come. “When dogs bark at the moon, a strong frost will follow.” And “When ducks are driving through the burn, that night the weather takes a turn.” “When swallows touch the water as they fly, rain approaches.”
Plants were also seen as weather prognosticators. For example, “Many acorns bring a strong winter” and “Onion’s skin very thin, mild winter’s coming in; onion’s skin thick and rough, coming winter cold and rough.” Here is one that we all probably know, “Ill weeds are not hurt by frost.” And our last one for today is for the farmers, “Make hay while the sun shines.” That one just makes sense!
Weather Last Week
February 17: -5/9/Trace
February 18: -10/-5/1.8”
February 19: -31/1/0”
February 20: -17/12/0”
February 21: -3/40/0”
February 22: 12/49/0”
February 23: 23/62/0”
Forecast discussion for the week ahead:
We will continue to hang on to the spring-like feel to the forecast for a few more days with plenty of sunshine to go along with it. After the weekend, a cold front will move through and drag down with it some colder air from Canada. While it won’t be as bitterly cold as we saw last week, that cold front will still bring with it a chance for some snowfall.