Weather Folklore

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Weather Folklore
Does it work?
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Red sky at night, shepherds delight, red sky in
the morning shepherd's warning
True or false?
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True
Why is the sky red at sunset or sunrise? The
atmospheric gases scatter visible light from the
sun. Blue light (short wavelengths) is scattered
more than red light Low sun long path through
the atmosphere. Most of the blue light is
scattered right out of the beam leaving just
the red end of the spectrum
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Red sky at night
Low sun
Red sky in the morning
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When swallows fly high, it will be dry
True or false?
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True
Why do swallows fly at a particular
altitude? Theyre catching insects to eat Why
do the insects fly at that altitude? They have
little choice air motions in the atmosphere
carry them around On days with strong heating
of the surface, thermals will rise, carrying the
insects upwards So on sunny summer days, the
swallows will fly high
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Rain before seven, clear by eleven
True or false?
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False
Late night rain and early morning rain may be the
last precipitation of a front passing
by. Weather fronts pass just as much in the day
as they do at night, so rain in the morning is no
predictor of a dry afternoon.
9
Seagull, seagull sit on the sand, Its never
good weather when youre on land
True or false?
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True
Seagulls usually sleep on water, but in gusty
conditions the water is too choppy. The seagulls
then tend to move inland. Thereforeseagulls
huddled on the ground are an indicator that the
weather out at sea is poor.
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When March blows its horn, Your barn will be
filled with grain and corn
True or false?
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False
Blows its horn refers to the occurrence of
thunderstorms. Thunderstorms in March indicate
it is unusually warm for that time of year BUT it
is no indicator of a long term weather
trend. Farmers rarely plant their annual crop
until May.
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When halo rings around the moon or sun, rain is
approaching on the run
True or false?
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True
Halos around the moon or sun are caused by
refraction of light by ice crystals at high
altitude. This high-level moisture is a
precursor to moisture moving in at increasingly
lower levels, and is a good indicator that an
active weather system is on its way.
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St Swithin's Day if it do rain,for 40 days it
will remain.St Swithin's Day if it be fair,for
40 days will rain no more
True or false?
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False!
The Met Office tested this myth on July 15th on
55 occasions and on each time 40 days of similar
weather did not follow.
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When March come in like a lion it goes out like
a lamb, when it comes in like a lamb it goes out
like a lion
True or false?
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False!
March can be a varied month for weather and just
because it comes in strongly at the beginning of
the month doesnt mean it will finish any more
gently!
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True or false?
No weather is ill, if the wind be still
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True!
Calm conditions, indicate the dominance of a high
pressure area especially if there are clear
skies. High pressure systems tend to give dry
conditions but there can be a large amount of low
cloud.
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True or false?
A cow with its tail to the West makes the
weather best, A cow with its tail to the East
makes the weather least
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Unreliable!
Cows prefer to stand with their back to the wind
so it doesnt blow in their faces. But is a
westerly wind a fair weather wind and an
easterly wind more unsettled? Lets start with
the easterly - the logic is that prior to a low
pressure system moving in the wind can
(sometimes) turn easterly or at least have a move
easterly component so gives a signal of unsettled
weather on the way. It is less clear about the
westerly as a westerly wind is not necessarily a
fair weather wind - there are some occasions
when it is and others when it isnt.