The wind in the trees is whispering ominous messages this morning so I went out and snapped a photo of the crepe myrtle in front of the maple in front of the clouds. Yesterday when church was over, I looked out of those huge windows and saw it was raining! My joy overcame my sense of propriety and I hollered down the hall to my friend, “Jeanette! It’s raining!” And rain kept falling, off and on, all day. My fear is that it was not widespread but maybe this is just the beginning. Perhaps the long, dry spell of heat is broken. I hope so.
Old sayings and folklore about weather abound. It is fascinating and since its source is observations by weather watchers through the years, I believe it can be counted on as surely as the meteorologists. (Sorry, meteorologists. I find your field is fascinating too and quite scientifically correct.) Several years ago, a Tulsa TV station had a popular meteorologist named Don Woods. He always drew a little cartoon character called Gusty. I was a great fan of Don and Gusty and still have one of the cartoons he drew.
My parents knew a lot about the weather just from observing weather patterns through the years. My grandpa, Levi Latty, certainly must have been an expert because his livelihood, farming, depended on what the weather decided to do. Below is some of the folklore about weather. I’ll bet you know others.
“A moon lying on its back is a dry moon. You can hang your hat on its horns.”
“No lightning will strike a barn that shelters swallows.”
“If it rains on St. Swithins Day (July 15), 40 days of rain will follow. If St. Swithins is fair, 40 days of fair weather.”
“High ant hills means a hard winter will follow.”
“Red sky at night, sailors’ delight; red sky of morning, sailors take warning.”
“A sunshiny shower won’t last an hour.”
“Persimmon seeds, when cracked open can predict whether the winter will have a lot of snow. A kernel that looks like a spoon means heavy snow, knife means icy cutting wind and fork means powdery, light snow.”
“When flies are sticky and bite, rain is on the way.”
“When robins don’t fly high, bad weather is coming.”
Oh, my goodness. I could go on. But weather folklore is fun and fascinating. If you know more, please share it in the “Comments” section. God controls the weather so come on, all of us who want the dry spell broken, let’s pray for rain!
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