LEVEL 1A
Traditional weather lore has been passed on from generation to generation. Many sayings relate the weather to feast days of saints, so maybe they date back to pre-Reformation times. My father, a countryman, thought there was a lot of truth to them, which was why they survived. Observe the weather and see what you think.
Copywork
Weather sayings make good copywork. Your child could make a weather calendar book this year, carefully copying weather lore and adding illustrations.
WEATHER CALENDAR
All Year
“Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight,
Red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning.”
This is mentioned by Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. When asked by the Pharisees and Sadducees for a sign he replied: “In the evening you say, ‘It will be fine; there is a red sky’, and in the morning, ‘Stormy weather today; the sky is red and overcast’. You know how to read the face of the sky, but you cannot read the signs of the times. ” (Mt.16: 2-3)
“Dew in the night,
Next day will be bright.”
(If the lawn is dry on a summer morning, rain is likely.)
“Grey mists at dawn,
the day will be warm.” (Summer)
“Rain before seven,
Fine before eleven.”
“If the sun goes pale to bed,
Twill rain tomorrow it is said.”
“Rain from the East,
Will last three days at least.”
“Mackerel sky, mackerel sky,
Never long wet, never long dry.”
(Mackerel sky is mottled with lots of small clouds.)
“If woolly fleeces strew the heavenly way,
Be sure no rain disturbs the summer day.”
(Small white fluffy clouds mean fine weather.)
“When clouds appear like rocks and towers,
The earth will be refreshed by frequent showers.”
“A rainbow at night,
Fair weather in sight.
A rainbow at morn,
Fair weather all gorn.”
January
“If the birds begin to sing in January,
Frosts are on the way.”
“March in January,
January in March.”
13th January (Feast of St.Hilary) – said to be the coldest day of the year.
25th January (St.Paul)
“If St.Paul’s Day be fair and clear,
Then it betides a happy year.”
February
“February makes a bridge and March breaks it.”
(A “bridge” of ice that thaws in March.)
“As the days lengthen,
So the cold strengthens.”
February 2nd (Candlemas)
“If Candlemas be fair and clear
There’ll be two winters in one year!”
or
“Candlemas be fair and bright,
Winter’ll have another flight.
But if Candlemas Day be clouds and rain,
Winter is gone and will not come again.”
March
“If March comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb.
If it comes in like a lamb, it will go out like a lion.”
“As many mists in March as there are frosts in May.”
April
“Thunder in April,
Floods in May.”
“When April blows his horn,
Tis good for hay and corn.”
(Thunder in April means a fine summer.)
Easter
“Easter in snow, Christmas in mud,
Christmas in snow, Easter in mud.”
“If it rains on Easter Day,
There shall be good grass but very bad hay.”
(Haytime – June – will be wet)
May
“Ash before oak and we shall have soak,
Oak before ash and we shall have splash.”
(Watch to see whether the ash leaves or oak leaves are out first. If it is the ash, a wet summer is predicted; if the oak, a dry one.)
“A wet May,
Brings a good load of hay.”
(A wet May predicts a sunny June.)
June
15th June (St.Vitus)
“If St.Vitus Day be rainy weather,
It will rain for thirty days together.”
July
July 15th (St.Swithin’s Day)
“St.Swithin’s Day if thou be fair,
Twill rain for forty days no mair,
St. Swithin’s Day if thou dost rain
For forty days it will remain.”
August
August 24th (St. Bartholomew’s Day)
“If St.Bartholomew’s Day be fair and clear,
Then a prosperous autumn comes that year.”
(A good St.Bartholomew’s day means a fine autumn)
“St.Bartholomew brings the cold dew.”
(Is there a heavy dew? Does the air feel chilly and autumnal?)
September
September 21st (St.Matthew’s Day)
“St.Matthew brings cold, rain and dew.”
September 29th (St.Michael and All Angels)
“If the north wind blows on Michaelmas Day, the month of October is sunny and gay.”
October
October 9th (St.Denis)
“A hard winter follows a fine St.Denis.”
18th October (St.Luke)
There is often fair weather around this day, known as “St.Luke’s Little Summer”
28th October (St.Simon and St.Jude)
Often bad weather, the end of St.Luke’s Little Summer.
November
November 11th (St.Martin)
“If the ice on St.Martin’s Day will bear a duck, there will be none that will bear a goose all winter.”
(My dad’s version of this was more prosaic:
“If November ice will bear a duck,
All the rest is mud and muck.”
In other words, a cold November means a mild, wet winter.)
December
“A long frost before Christmas may bring an early spring.”
21st December (St.Thomas)
“St.Thomas grey, St.Thomas grey,
The longest night and the shortest day.”
Christmas Day
“Sun through the apple trees on Christmas day,
Means a fine crop is on the way. ”
(A fine Christmas Day means a good spring and a frost-free May.)
OTHER WEATHER PREDICTORS
Natural barometers – both seaweed and pine cones work as natural barometers. Seaweed feels dry during fine weather but expands and feels damp when rain is coming. Pine cones open for good weather and close for bad.
Birds – robins and blackbirds singing from the tops of trees mean good weather; if they are on the bottom branches, expect rain.
Sources
Weather Forecasting the Country Way by Robin Page
Round the Year With Enid Blyton
