You Caint do Nuthin' 'bout the Weather

Whenever I think of the weather, I am reminded of an old joke I heard years ago about an old hill woman and her grandson, who was doing homework on the correct usage of prepositions. After doing his homework, the boy was expected to go out and hoe up the garden. Just as the pupil thought he had finally grasped the concept, he closed his book, but not wanting to go hoe the garden he looked at his grandmother and said, “I wisht it would rain cats and dogs.” Not knowing (or caring) about the grammatical rules for the uses of prepositions, she responded to her grandson, “Why would you call weather that you’ve got to come in out of up for?” Hearing this, the boy opened his textbook again in bewilderment. I don’t know why, but that has always stuck with me, and I still find it humorous.

I thought of this again today when I was planning a new post about forecasting the weather. I grew up with many ways to foretell the weather by watching the animals. My Grandmaw Mary always said to pay attention to the animals, they will tell you things. That is true enough.

We all know about the wooly worm, and I’m sure you’ve even heard about Granny Clampett’s weather beetle. Even I have included some other time honored folk methods to making an accurate weather forecast in a previous post. Laugh all you want but you’d probably be shocked at just how accurate some of these methods tend to be. Included below are a few of the lesser known folk methods of forecasting weather by watching animals.

When bears store food in autumn, it is going to be a bad winter.

The chattering of squirrels in midwinter indicates an early spring.

If beavers build their lodge’s higher than normal, it is going to be a bad & long winter.

If you see bear tracks in the first snow of the year, it will be a mild winter.

If a cat warms itself in the February sun, it will warm itself by a fire in March.

If there are a lot of herons in the fall, a cold winter is in store.

When woodpeckers leave an area, expect a severe winter. If you see a woodpecker pecking low on a tree trunk, it is a sign of warm weather.

If field birds flock together, it is a sign of a bad storm coming your way.

After the purple martins appear in the spring, no killing frost will occur.

The color of a deer foretells the winter, the darker the coat, the harder the winter.

If fish are seen congregating in deep water, that is a sign of a cold winter to come.

If you hear no birds singing or animals scurrying in the woods, it is a sure sign of a bad storm coming your way.

If there are very few squirrel dreys (nests made of leaves), it is a sign of a cold, hard winter to come.

I’m sure there are more and more of these folk methods of forecasting weather. Also, I’d say there vary from location to location. Do you know of any other ways animals can forecast the weather?

First Frost

Well Folks, Just a quick post to let you know the old saying still hold true. After you hear the first fall cricket, it will be Six weeks until the first frost.

As you can see in my post from August 13, 2008 that was titled "Fall Crickets"
http://appalachianlifestyles.blogspot.com/2008/08/fall-crickets.html
that using my Grandmaw Mary's time-honored tradition of utilizing fall crickets to determine weather, I estimated the first frost on the mountain to be September 24, 2008 (give or take a few days). Well, this morning the prophecy was fulfilled when it frosted. Today is the 27th of September, so it is still within the margin of error.

Sure, the frost was wimpy, and it was light, but it was the first frost none-the-less. It was also unexpected, since it has been raining for the past day or so, and last night was really foggy. Apparently, the fog lifted just long enough for it to frost. It was a balmy 29 degrees early this morning, and the smell of wood smoke from morning fires to keep the dampness at bay still hangs in the air.

My Grandmaw Mary sure knew her stuff.

How's the Weather?

Folks, there’s a chill in the air today. This reminds me that it sure as heck is mid-September and fall is here and winter is just around the corner. I’d thought I’d devote this post to the many ways to determine the timing and severity of winter according to folklore. Here’s a list of the ways I can think of, do you know of any more?


• If the wooly worm is solid black, there will be an early fall, bad winter and late spring.

• If the hornets build nests high in the grass or in trees, there will be a lot of snow that winter.

• After you hear the first fall cricket, it will be 6 weeks until frost.


• If the bark on hickory trees is really thick, it will be a colder than normal winter, conversely, if the bark is thin, it will be a warm winter.

• If squirrels gather nuts after sundown in October, it will be a hard winter.


• If the deer are dark in color, it is an indication of a bad winter to come.

• If buzzards congregate, it is a sign of a change in the weather.


• The first three days of each new quarter will determine the weather for that quarter. For example, the first three days of January will indicate the weather for January, February and March. The first three days of April will determine the weather in April, May and June. The first three days of July will determine July, August and September, and the first three days of October determines the weather for October, November and December. A quarter starts on the first day of the month following a solstice.

• If ant hills are high in July, winter will be snowy.


• If the first week in August is uncommonly hot, the coming winter will be snowy and long.

• For every fog in August, there will be a snowfall in winter.

• If a cold August follows a hot July, it foretells a cold and dry winter.

• A lot of rain in October means a lot of wind in December.

• A warm October foretells a cold February.


• If the first frost hasn’t occurred before the full moon in October, then there won’t be a frost until the full moon in November.

• Flowers bloomin’ in late fall is a sure sign of a bad winter for all.

• A warm November means a bad December.

• Thunder in the fall foretells a cold Winter.

• If onion skins are thick and tough, Old Man Winter’s gonna be rough.

• A green Christmas means a white Easter.

• A hard winter is in the making if corn husks are thick and tight.

• Expect a cold winter if apple peelings are tougher than average.

• It will be an early winter if the birds migrate early.

• It will be an unusually cold winter if a squirrel’s tail is very bushy.

• Expect a long, hard winter if berries and nuts are plentiful.

• If the first snowfall lands on unfrozen ground, the winter will be mild.

• Snowfall won’t amount to anything until the rivers are running full.

• If wood smoke hovers near the ground, a bad storm is coming.

• If you see a ring around the moon, and it has stars inside the ring, that will tell you how many days until there is a big storm.

• March will borrow from April, and April will always collect its debt.