Talking about the Weather

Outdoor enthusiasts frequently make their plans around weather forecasts that are generated by meteorologists using Doppler radar, weather balloons (they're not UFOs!), and computers but there are also some useful observations that still hold true today in “reading” a forecast that anyone can use.

Rhymes and sayings were and still are useful in preserving this weather lore.

Science and observation validate these old truisms:

“Red Sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky in morning, sailor's warning.”

The sky's red appearance is due to light scattering by water vapour, dust and pollution (that's where Orange county in LA gets its name). A high concentration of particles usually indicates a high-pressure system and stable air coming from the West. In the Northern hemisphere weather systems move from West to East this suggests good weather for the night. But when the morning Eastern sky appears red this more suggests a high water and dust content in the atmosphere and a storm system may be moving in.

“Ring around the moon, rain or snow soon”

On some nights a halo like ring appears around the moon (and sometimes during the Sun in daytime) is caused by a layer of cirrus clouds with ice crystal content that reflect the moons light. Although these clouds themselves don't produce rain or snow they do appear when a warm front and low-pressure front approaches. The brighter the ring the greater the chance of precipitation.

“Clear moon, frost soon”

When the moon is seen very clearly there is no cloud cover. Nights with cloud cover are noticeably warmer as the earth heated during daytime does not lose its heat by radiation to the skies. A lack of clouds, which would normally reflect heat back to the ground, causes the ground to chill more.

“Rainbow in the morning gives you fair warning”

Rainbows will always appear in the part of the sky oppose the sun.

A rainbow in the Eastern Sky tells you that rain have already passed.

Most weather systems move from west to east so a rainbow in the western sky, which would appear in the morning heralds coming rainstorms.

These saying were developed by Northern Hemisphere outdoorsmen and will work for vacationers throughout the Northern hemisphere.

These are only some of the observations that aviation pilots and mariners besides instruments when making decisions.

Travelers can make use of these too whether planning a car trip to Mall of America or hiking through Bird's Hill Park. We may not be able to avoid bad weather but can make plans through useful observations.