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What is the weather like tomorrow or a few days from now? Our ancestors lived in harmony with nature and learned to predict what the coming season will bring.
Clouds, birds, animals and plants - they are all natural keys to unraveling weather surprises. Proverbs, sayings, popular predictions and superstitions were transmitted through generations of hunters, farmers and fishermen who relied on natural signs to predict the impending storm or severity of the future winter. The study of proverbs, including weather, is called paremiology. Most of them are bizarre and unreal fables that do not have any scientific basis, while others have a grain of truth.
How Animals are Linked and Weather Forecasts
Behavior of animals directly depends on the weather. The thickness of their skins, the amount of subcutaneous fat, the options for places where they hide their food caches, and how they build their winter lairs - all these signs are used to predict the winter weather. Native Americans watched the beavers to predict the cold. They believed that the thicker and coarser the beaver skin, the harder it would be to winter.
There are a few more American signs related to animals:
- if you see how a beaver wears sticks in your mouth, it will be a hard winter, and you'd better go south;
- if skunks are too thick, wait for a cold winter;
- when in the autumn squirrels are rare, this indicates the approaching strong cold, while the chipmunks in December speak of a mild winter;
- If squirrels hide their supplies high in the hollows of trees, know that there will be a lot of snow;
- when proteins start to get into early groups, wait for a really fierce frost.
Birds are great predictors
By the birds, farmers have long learned to predict the cold. It is usually believed that when birds migrate early, the winter will be cold and stiff. This is also evidenced by the thick feather bed of the turkey. If wild turkeys have taken a fancy to themselves on the branches of trees and refuse to leave it - snowfall is approaching.
If the cock sheds before the chicken, the winter will be mild, however, if the chicken begins to molt before the cock, the winter will be stiff, like a stone.
Insects and weather
Over the long years of observation, we learned that cold weather can be predicted even by insects. For example, when bees build their beehives in a sheltered place (garage, barn), expect strong cold.
It is believed that the height of the hornet's nest will point to the mark to which the snow will rise next winter. Hairy caterpillars, of which we have already talked, are favorites in predicting the weather among insects.
What plants can tell about the weather
It is believed that tough apples and a thick onion shirt, as well as thickened flower buds, mean the approach of a cold winter. Americans say: "Get a heavy winter coat, if the flower buds themselves put on their coats." About severe colds, corn husk also speaks if it is thicker and denser than usual.
If the mushrooms grow in abundance, this indicates abundant snowfalls. No mushrooms - no snow.
The early fall of the foliage suggests that autumn and winter will be mild. When the foliage lingers longer than usual, the cold will strike at full strength. For example, if the October came, and the deciduous cover still hangs on the branches.
A plentiful harvest of acorns, dog rose, hawthorn and other berries means that an unfavorable winter season is approaching. Many nuts, on the contrary, speak of an easy winter.
The level to which the weeds grow grows a point, to which then the drifts will grow.
Now you know a little more about how you can predict the weather without checking the weather reports. It is worth noting that the weather folklore is far from unerring in its forecasts, however, it is extremely interesting.
