Red sunrise in the morning, sailors take warning.
Red sunrise at night is a sailor's delight.
(this is one Jesus referenced in Matthew 16)
Foggy August mornings
The bands on a woolly caterpillar
The seed of a persimmon (the Fall of 2012 it was a spoon) (look it up)
The thickness of a mammal's fur in the winter
A ring around the moon
How many can you name? Check your local Farmer's Almanac for more.
A lesser know weather observation indicator is the 12 days of Christmas.
For many years I have been watching and recording the weather happenings beginning on Christmas day through January 5 to help me have an understanding of the possible average weather patterns for the year. Each of the 12 Days of Christmas represent the 12 months of the year.
December 25 = January
December 26 = February
December 27 = March
December 28 = April
and so on...
During the 2011-2012 Days of Christmas, I worried then that we would have a hot dry summer - and we did. Burn bans as early as June as well as at least 20 wildfires in Arkansas during June indicated the summer was going to be rough. Most gardeners gave up their summer gardening efforts in hopes of a successful Fall garden. It was, though, a tolerable summer (for those of us acclimated and conditioned to the great outdoors) in that the humidity wasn't nearly as brutal as is usual here in Central Arkansas. The summer of 2012 was dry!
This past 2012-2013 12 Days of Christmas, I was chomping at the bit to get in my garden because the prospects for a beautiful spring and summer with rain or at least not drought conditions were indicated by the 12 Days of Christmas weather patterns. So far this year, I have not been disappointed with my weather *predictions.*
On December 24 while standing outside saying goodnight to our Christmas Eve guests, we all ooooohed and ahhhed over the beauty of the moon, the huge clear ring with a lone star on the inside of the ring. I determined then and there that this was going to be a weather year worth observing and I determined to write it all out. As it turned out I had all the time in the world as we were snowed in with an EPIC history making snow event the very next day (hint - one star on the inside of the ring around the moon). Here's what I wrote in my calendar for the 2012-2013 12 Days of Christmas
December 25 (January) - Day started out windy. Ice. freezing rain, sleet, thunder, lightning, SNOW - EPIC! Temp hovered around 30. Power's out!
December 26 (February) - Sunny, windy, dry, 10 + inches of snow on the ground. Cold! barely above freezing today. 34 maybe.
December 27 (March) - Sunny early turning cloudy. Cold! Stayed below freezing most of the day.
December 28 (April) - Cold, Cloudy, freezing rain turning to rain. Snow still on the ground. High temperature around 37.
December 29 (May) - Sunny, cold, snow still on the ground, another freeze. Temp barely made it to 33. Power's back on late in the evening.
December 30 (June) - Clear sunrise but turning overcast all day. High of 41 - finally warming up a bit. snow and ice still on the ground, rain moving in.
December 31 (July) - Overcast. rain. high of 36. Significant rain to end the day. Cold. Late night fog.
January 1 (August) - Overcast. Gloomy. Cold but warmer than it has been. 40 degrees. Snow is finally out of the trees and melting.
January 2 (September) - Overcast. Cold. some snow still on the ground, but not much. 39 degrees as of 2pm, but it feels colder than that.
January 3 (October) - Heavy frost. Low morning temp of 25 - SUNSHINE!!!! 46 degrees as of 3:30.
January 4 (November) - cold. again. overcast. again. High of 45.
January 5 (December) - cold. overcast. day warmed to about 46.
Well. That's it. That's a look at my weather observing skills. I'm learning as I go what these indicators mean. It's definitely not a 100% accurate look at the weather each day of each month. But, I have found that it's a good way to get an overall average look at and expectations of the weather for the seasons. And I'm typing this on a beautiful cool for July in Arkansas day with clouds and rain. Oh. And the short-lived burn ban for Pulaski county has been lifted thanks to the rain.
Observation is a good thing. And now I can tell Ellen that I finally did this.
1 comment:
I do sweety!
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