Can you forecast weather?

Every day you listen to aweather forecast on radio and television, because you want to know what weather will be like, whether you must carry an umbrella with you when you go out.

But do you know that you can forecast weather, too? ‘How?’ you may ask. By watching birds and animals, insects and flowers.

There is a funny little poem which may help you to forecast weather:

If bees stay at home, Rain will soon come; If they fly away, Fine will be the day.

It makes you smile. But really it is well known some insects become more troublesome before a change in the weather. Flies and mosquitoes, for example, begin to hum and bite before the rain.

There is another little poem which tells you something about the weather:

Big blue-black beetles fly only on evenings before niceweather.

Let’s take plants now. Do you know that the smell of flowers in the gardens and in the parks is very strong before rains?

Flowers have much sweet nectar before rainand the nectar is good food forinsects. So if you see insects flying over flowers in large numbers, you must know that soon it may rain.

Dry twigs fall down from trees when the wind is blowing. If they fall down in dry quiet weather, you must expect rain.

Birds and animals also help people to forecast weather. Birdsfly lower than usual before it rains.

Have you ever seen a bird hiding its head under its wing? Do you know what it means? It means that soon it will become colder.

Your cat may tell you what the weather will be like. If you see your cat washing behind the ears, he is telling you that it will soon rain.

Another way of telling what the weather will be like is to look at the sky.

The colour of the sky, the sun the moon and the stars are important in forecasting weather.

People say:

Evening red and morning grey

Help the traveller on his way.

Evening grey and morning red

Bring down rain on his head.

And it is really so. A red evening sky tells of good weather the next day. If theevening sky is a little yellow or green, then you may be even more sure that the weather will be finethe next day.

A grey sunrise gives promise of a good day, too.

What about the moon? There is this little poem:

The moon and the weather

May change together;

But change of the moon

Does not change the weather.

Yes, the change of the moon does not change the weather. But if you see a halo around the moon, it very often means rain or a period of unsettled weather.

A halo around the sun also gives promise of rain. The Indians say, ‘When the sun is in his house, it will rain soon.’

If you see halosaround the sun and the moon in winter, you must know that a snow storm will soon come.

When the summer stars are clear and bright, it means thatthe weather will be good. Bright and clear stars in wintergive promise of very cold weather.

If you want to forecast weather you must know something about winds, too.

The South wind brings wet weather,

The North wind wet and cold together,

The West wind always brings us rain,

The East wind blows it back again.

So, you see that “every wind has its weather”, as the proverb says:

When you see dark clouds in the west, it means that it will rain.

Dark clouds in the west –

Stay at home and est.

When the wind is in the east and the clouds are round and grey, there will be fine weather for some days.

But then you must know: when there are no clouds in the sky, it may mean that the night will be cool.

If clouds move in different directions because the winds blow them that way, then it shows that soon a change in theweather will come.

So, if you want to forecast weather, if you want to know what theweather will be like, you must observe nature carefully. Try to do it. It will give you much fun!

And this may also be the beginning of your future profession, and maybe we shall see one of you on the television screen telling us all about tomorrow’sweather.