Weather Forecasting Folklore

Wish I had a well to fill. lol

Me too! LOL

According to The Weather Channel, the states that had excessive heat this summer, will stay warm going into winter.

However, according to The Farmer's Almanac, winter is going to be cooler and drier than normal.

I'm becoming quite an expert at weather forecasting for my south central Kentucky location. When there's a massive storm cell with lots of rain headed across the midwest. I quarantee that when it hits the stateline, it WILL start breaking up and go all around me. Been doing it to me all summer.

Our Ohio summer has been unspeakably dry and hot. Have heard that this winter should not be as bad as last, but that isn't saying much; haven't seen so much snow or felt so much cold since I was a wee girl back east.

I don’t know if I want our winter to be that mild or not. Last year we had a hard cold one and the fruit production was excellent around here. I wouldn’t mind seeing a little more of that next year.

Our winter gave us better fruit production too; we got apricots for the first time. But I'll settle for less fruit and fewer frozen pipes, thanks!

Know what you mean out the pipes. Turned the water off at the cabin but last month when I turned it back on I was greeted with several broken ones inside the wall. So I have decided to redo the bathroom along with them since I will have to pull out part of the wall to fix the pipes anyway. If it's not one thing it's another.

So far every oldtimer we've got here is saying its going to snow before thanksgiving & not thaw till March. :) I can't wait! Wooly bugs are huge... and fuzzy. which usually means a cold winter. Trees are already turning for the last 3 weeks.. we've kinda had an early fall. A bit of a warm up this weekend but otherwise its been in the 70's by day & low 60's by nite.

I recently read that dogs eating grass means it will rain. (I always thought dogs eating grass meant that they were about to throw up on the carpet.)

It 'feels' and looks like an early fall here, too, with leaves turning already even though the daytime temps are above 80. Time to get my firewood fetched and stacked.

Hard to believe winter is so close, when it's still hitting the 90's in this area.

Porkpal, my dog lies, then. He's been eating grass for weeks and no rain to be had here. Getting harder for him to even find grass to eat. Most of it is crispy.

How's your carpet?

Luckily, we spend most of our time outside.

I can always tell when the rain/storms are approching. My fibromyalga flares up and I start hurting all over. Since I have developed arthritis in my thumbs, they really get to hurting a day or so before it storms. Also, the change in weather barometer pressure give me migraines. I may be a mess, but I know when a storm is coming. LOL

You’re probably more accurate than the local tv weather.

LOL .... Yes. Who needs all that radar and doppler and fancy gadgetry????

me me me

I watch it as though I need it, lol, even thought it's many times wrong. Maybe I'm an optimist?

Here's one I haven't seen; When the hornets build close to the ground there won't be much snow. Last winter here was a real corker and the hornets were high in the trees. If I see any up there this year I'll knock them to the ground myself!!!! I sure pray we don't have another winter like last year. It nearly killed me and the animals. Everything is comng down off the hill in back of the house before cold sets in. Already have the goats and half the chickens down. One more chicken pen to build and I'll be set with them. Then just the horses to fix up. I'd sure love to sell 4 of them. Wish DH could wrap his head around the idea. He hates to see them go and I do too but it's inevitable. Leaves are falling here. Not turning colors, just turning loose. Way too dry. The creeks are all drying up. We need rain something fierce. Welcome to the new folks.

Re: 9/16 post- So far, two days of constant rain. Guess even the wells in Ohio must be full before we get the "f" word.

My dogs were eating grass a couple days ago ...... but no rain. We are actually in another dry spell. Maybe they were just doing it to try to get it to rain. LOL

I love this thread!

Do you folks have any lore for a first frost?

Sorry it took so long.

I did some more research online a couple of days ago and it seems like all indicators happen 2-6 months before the first frost. Don't recall the links, but I think I googled "folklore frost predictors".

We did get our first frost this morning. A little early this year. [sigh]

We got a little frost here this morning too. Set a record low... 38 in Tulsa. We were about 42. Doesn't look like it hurt any of my plants though

We have not had any frost yet. I bought a floating row cover for my bed I just planted. I have some stuff sprouted but it's still really small.

Cajun, good thinking! I thought about it all summer, but didn't want to let go of the money to order any. Plus I'd have to decide which rows I was willing to sacrifice, since I couldn't cover the whole garden. DUH, that's exactly what I'm doing now, by covering selected rows with sheets. lol

I got mine at Lowes. It was only $10 but I just have the one small bed 4X6.
I put 5 gallon buckets along the outside of the bed and cut poles from the woods to lay across the buckets. I'll drape the cloth over the poles and weight it down with rocks.

Todays' DG article... http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/2084/

Lightening (thunder) in January will correlate with frosts in April and it is usually correct within a day or two.
We had some lightening ( no thunder ) last night ~ we'll see if we have frost on April 4th!

I'd never heard that one. Will have to pay attention!

We'll see how close... old timers swear by it.

Thanks, Podster.

This is the start of a new year. Time to review the folklore signs and signals and start keeping track. :)

Reading thru an old gardening book and found these...

Cool, Podster! There is some truth to that. All of my onions this past summer and fall had thin skins, and this was the worst winter I've seen here (in 9 years) with more bitter cold days and more snowfall and rain.

Wait!! Isn't that the reverse of what that poem said? LOL

Well, thank Heavens the skins weren't tough! LOL I thought it was a little rougher winter than usual here, but I've been spoiled by the mild winters in this part of Kentucky where we had loads of 50*+ winter days. However, there has been a lot worse that we could have had, had it not gone around us.

ROFLOL ~ or perhaps it will be over soon as in a short winter!

I can only hope...

A short winter gets my vote!!!

Keeping my fingers crossed for you both. We just got blessed with 2 3/4 inches of much needed rain. Hallelujah!

It rained here last night and everything is as slick as now. Warmer today but the sun is not out.

Switching back to my good ol' New England heritage again..."as the days get longer, the cold gets stronger".

Back to the lightening & thunder one...

My grandpa always said If it thunders & lightening in winter the storms will be worse come spring.

Last time it thundered, lightening & snowed at the same time here... we had massive tornadoes every weekend for a month.