The Lincoln times., 1954-02-18
"Weatheriisms" "
Folk Believe In
Have Some Loqiie

AsNvS SShS 6O9N
DENVER. Colo. - Some of the
folksy "weatherisms" people be-
heve in have bit of logic behind
them. while others have all the
validity of last weeks streetcar
transfers.
Picking up "weatherisms" be-
came a hobby While serving with
the Air Force Weather Service in
the windy AleutianS and frosty Al
aSkan mainland.
COMMON SIGN
A common weather sign is that
ring around the moon. which is
supposed TO mean a cold night fol-
lowed by snow the next day.
;, Not a bad guess at that Most
OF the nights when the moon
wears a halo it is cold. This glow
ing crown worn by the old man
in the moon" is caused by ice
crystal type clouds. which often
do precede another brand Of
clouds which bring snow.
Every once in a while you run
into someone who comes in out
OF the freely blue. stamps his feet.
boxes the cold out of his ears and
remarks well. it's too cold to
snow today"
Taint necessarily so On one
trigid occasion along the Yukon
the temperature read rs below
zero and 1t showed up a real
storm.
1t was too cold to do anything
else, but 1t did snow.
The Indians around Galena, AL
aska had an aboriginal explana-
ton for the cracking of the ice on
the Yukon during cold winter
nights.
Somewhat uuimaginative air
Weathermen called the swapping
pressure cracks. The tribeSmen
said 1t was the storm goddess
tWirling her crystal beads.
Some people like to blame snow
or rain on cats. 1t works this way
When you pei your cat, or any cat
which happens to be about. and
it's fur crackles with static cleo
tricity, that's supposed to mean
rain or snow.
Well. 1t does mean that wher-
ever puss happens to be is dry
and precipitation probably would
be welcome. but it's beyond her
feline powers to tell you whether
or not wet weather is in sight.
When squirrels and their nut
boarding cousins the chipmunks
start collecting their winter stores
earlier than usual that's supposed
to mean a cold, hard winter.
What it does mean is that the
nut crop came earlier than usual
Another popular belief is that
when the little furbearers of the
woods grow extra heavy coats in
the fall the winter will be extra
bad.
It's more likely, however, that
the sleek, heavy pelts mean the
wearer had excellent dietary luck
through the summer.
Old Ground Hog, who pokes his
head out In a traditional manner
or Feb. 3 CCandlemas day., is
more hungry than interested in
whether winter will last six more
| weeks.
FISH TOO
Then there's the Weatherfish
He's also known as the thunder
fish, and makes his home in mud
burrows in the freshwater streams
which are his home. When he
comes out of his burrow it's sup
posed TO mean a storm is coming.
About the only think which can
bring him out Of his underwater
home is a search for a meal. or
yen TO meet female weather.
fish
Men who go down to the sea IN
ships sometimes prophesy weather
in rhyme. One goes like this:
Rain bow in the morning. sailor
take warning. Rainbow at night.
Sailors delight"
That one is relatively good.
Most weather at sea moves from
west to east. A rainbow in the
morning - in the west - means
an approaching storm. If the rain
bow shows up in the evening it's
il the east, and means the storm
IS on it's way out.
Speaking of rainbows, a second
ary rainbow called a weather
gall is supposed to mean baG
weather However, the wind di-
rection, velocity. temperature. ara
dew point will determine whether
the rainbow or weathergall viewer
will have a storm for himself
About all primary and second
airy rainbow indicate is that some
one had bad weather. else the
colorful things just wouldn't be
there. Rainbows are caused by
the suns reflection on water
drops.
Odd injuries. corns. rheumatic
joints and teeth are credited with
predicting weather changes with
an ache or pain.
Some scientists go along with
this. Atmospheric changes do at
feet the human body. and some
aches or pains are due to hyper
Sensitivity to changes in humidity
or temperature, which precede5 a
storm.
There are lots of weatherSigns