Week of April 6, 2025 – April 12, 2025
by Elizabeth Suzedell, Environmental Educator
How did people predict the weather hundreds of years ago? Long before computers and satellites, people had to rely on their own observations of the skies and nature to make a forecast. Observations of weather trends led to the creation of hundreds of proverbs and sayings that actually do have some truth to them (sometimes).
“Red sky in morning, sailors give warning. Red sky at night, sailors delight.” – This might be the most well-known weather proverb. Bright red, orange, and pink sunrises and sunsets occur with middle and high-level clouds, which are often present at the edges of storms. Weather typically moves from west to east, and the sun always rises in the east and sets in the west. The eastern rising sun illuminates clouds coming from the west, indicating that a storm is on its way. The western setting sun illuminates clouds that are already passing towards the east, indicating that storms are on their way out. This is not always true, but test it out next time you see a red sky!
“A ring around the moon means rain will come real soon.” – This is one of my favorite sayings because I find that its true almost all of the time. A ring or halo shape around the moon and sun means that there are cirrostratus clouds in the atmosphere. These clouds are so high up (20 – 30 thousand feet) that they are made of ice crystals, and they refract moonlight and sunlight to create a ring shape. As a widespread storm approaches, the high-level cirrostratus clouds are the first to arrive. 12 -24 hours later, it will probably be raining or snowing.
“When the dew is on the grass, rain will never come to pass. When grass is dry at morning light, look for rain before the night.” – Morning dew generally only forms when skies are clear and the air is still overnight. If you go outside in the morning to find no dew on the grass, there was either a cloudy sky or windy conditions overnight- both of which indicate stormy weather to come.
“Hawks flying high means a clear sky. When they fly low, prepare for a blow.” – Some animals, especially birds, are sensitive to changes in the air pressure. When the pressure is high, birds need to fly higher up in the sky to be at an optimal air density. When air pressure is low, they need to fly lower to be at their comfortable air density level. Low pressure also indicates stormy weather, so flying low to the ground means birds are close to a roost if they need to stop.
For a fun read full of more weather proverbs, check out the 1800s book titled Weather lore; a collection of proverbs, sayings, and rules concerning the weather, found online at https://ia802308.us.archive.org/18/items/weatherlorecolle00inwa/weatherlorecolle00inwa.pdf . What’s your favorite weather proverb?