Weather Folklore

Background Information:

Folklore can be defined as a set of old or traditional beliefs.  Weather folk sayings originated over the years as a result of observations made by people for whom the weather was important such as sailors, farmers, and Native Americans.  Often the sayings would relate to predicting the approach of weather systems and were based on the observations of nature.

Some interesting sayings include:

Red sky at night, sailors delight.  Red sky in morning, sailors take warning.

If autumn leaves are slow to fall, prepare for a cold winter.

When spiders weave their webs by noon, fine weather is coming soon.

It will be a cold snowy winter if there is a warm Christmas.

Birds flying low, expect rain and a blow.

For additional Weather Folklore sites, try the following:

http://members.aol.com/Accustiver/wxworld_folk.html

http://nws.noaa.gov/er/mhx/loreg.html

http://athena.wednet.edu/curric/weather/hsweathr/folktale.html

http://athena.wednet.edu/curric/weather/hsweathr/proverb.html