404 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JUNE ar, 18-'>8. 



(.From the Suuthein Agriculturalist.) 



PROGNOSTICS OF THE WEATHER. 



Mr Editor — The subjoined prognostics of the 

 weather liavc lieen taken from authors of approveil 

 experierice, anil in some instances of much learn- 

 ing. Many, indeed none of their works have as 

 ! helievc, been republished in this country, for 

 the editions from which I have drawn njy infor- 

 mation, are English.* This last conviction indu- 

 ces me to send yon this article, which I hud cofu- 

 piled for my own use. The space allotted pro- 

 hibits rue Irom giving the causes of the respective 

 prognostics — in each instance, however, the ptog- 

 nosiic can be explained by the laws of nature. 



I. SIGNS FROM VAPORS OR MJSTS. 



1. !f a white mist in an evening or night spread 

 over a meadow, wherein there is a river, it [n'om- 

 ises the next day tn be bright. 



2. When the mist hanging over the lower lands 

 draws towards the hills of a morning, and rolls up 

 their sides until the tops be covered, there will be 

 MO rain. 



3. In some places, if the mist hangs upon the 

 hills, and drags along the wood^, instead of over- 

 spreading the lower grouniLs, in a morning, it 

 will turn to rain. 



4. If mists rise in low grounds, and soon van- 

 ish, fair weather. 



5. If they rise to the hill tops, rain in a day or 

 two. (One of Wr Worlidge's rules.) 



6. .\ general ini.-it before the sun rises near the 

 full moon ; fine weather. 



II. FROM CL00D3& 



1. It is a sympton of fait weather when clouds 

 dissolve into air: otherwise when they ure collect- 

 ed out of the air. 



2. When heavy rains are about to fall, every 

 f.loud rises bigger thaii the former, and all the 

 clonils are in a growing state. 



3. When clouds are fl :ecy, deep, and dense to- 

 ^vards the middle, and very white at the edges, 

 ^vitli the sky very briglit and blue about them, 

 (hey are of a frosty coldness, and will soon fall 

 either in hail, snow or hasty showers of rain. 



4. When clouds breed high in the air in thin 

 ■white trains, like locks of wool or the tails of hor- 

 «es, there will soon be wind below, and [uobably 

 at rnin with it. 



5. When clouds as they come forward seem to 

 <)iverge from a point in the liorizon, a wind may 

 Ibe expected from that (piarter, or the opposite. 



6. When a general chiudimss covers the sky 

 nbove, and small black fragments of clourls, like 

 iSmoke, fly underneath, rain is not far off, and it 

 will probably be lasting. 



7 No surer sign of rain than two diflTerent cur- 

 Tents of clouds, especially if the undermost flies 

 fast before the wind : and if two such appear in 

 Jiot suiruner, a thiiniler storm is gathering. 



8. Clouds like large rocks ; great showers. 



9. If small clouds increase; much rain. 



10. If la-ge clouds decrease ; fair weather. 



11. In summer, when the wind has been South 

 two or three days, and it grows very hot, and 

 «lou(ls rise with white tops, like tower.s, as if one 

 were on the top of another, joined together with 

 Idack on the ucther side, there will be thunder 

 and rain suddenly. 



•Lord Bacon, Best, the Shepherd of Banbury, Wor- 

 lidge and Cliiridge. 



12. If two such clouds rise one on either hand ; 

 ra ill. 



13. Dappled white clouds, (called a mackerel 

 sky) giMierally predict rain. 



14. Small black clouds of a clear evening ; un- 

 doubted signs of rain. 



1.5. Bine or black clouds near the sun any time 

 of the day, or near the moon by night ; signs of 

 rain. 



16. Small waterish clouds on the tops of hills ; 

 rain. 



17. If clouds grow or appear suddenly, the air 

 otherwise free from clouds ; tempests at hands, 

 es|)ecially if they appear to the South or West. 



18. Clouds setting on the tops of mountains ; 

 hard weather. 



III. DF.WS. 



Dew plentil'iilly on the grass after a fair day, 

 foretells the next day fair ; but if afler such a day 

 no dew is on the ground, and no wind stirring, 

 rain may be expected. 



IV. FROM SKIES. 



1. Between a red evening and grey morning, 

 is commonly a heavy dew or a mist over the 

 ground, but if a red morning succeeds, there is no 

 dew. 



2. When a lowering redne.ss spreads too far 

 upwards from the horizon in the morning or even- 

 ing, rains or winds follow, and often both. 



3. When such a redness, together with a rag- 

 gedness of the clouds, extends towards the zenith 

 in the evening, the wind will be high from the 

 West or Southwest, with rain. 



4. When the sky in a rainy season is tinged 

 with a sea-green color, when it ought to be blue, 

 the rain will continue and increase. 



5. If it is of a deep dead blue, the weather will 

 be showery. 



6. A d.-irk thick sky, lasting for soitietime, ei- 

 ther wiihout sun or rain, always becomes fair, 

 then foul — thai is, a clear sky before rain. 



v. FR0.M SUN. 



1. When the air is hazy, and sun's light fades 

 by degrees, and his orb looks whitish and ill de- 

 fined ; one of the most certain signs of rain. 



2. If the rays of the sun breaking through the 

 clouds, irradiate and are visible in the air, rain 

 soon. 



3. White at his setting ; bad weather. 



4. Slmrn of 1,'is rays ; bad weather. 



5. Goi':g down into a bank of clouds which 

 lie in the horizon ; bad weather. 



6. If he rise red ami fiery ; wind and rain. 



7. If he rise cloudy, and clouds decrease; cer- 

 tain fair weather. 



VI, FROM MOON. 



1. When moon and stars grow dirn, with a 

 hazy air and ring or halo around it ; rain fol- 

 lows. 



2. If moon appear pale and dim, expect rain. 



3. If red, a sign of wind. 



4. If of its natural color, and the sky dear, fair 

 weather. 



5. It the tnoon is rainy throughout her course, 

 it will clear up at the ensuing change, and the 

 rain will probably commence in a few days after, 

 und continue ; if, on the contrary, the moon has 

 been fair throughout, and it rains at the change, 

 the fair weather will probably be restoreil about 



the fourth or fifth day of the moon, and continue 

 as belore. 



6. If new moon does not appear till the fourth 

 day, a troubled air for the whole month. 



7. If the moon, either at her first ap[)carance. 

 or within a few days after, has her lower horn 

 obscure, or dusky, or any wise sullied, it denotes 

 foul weather before the full. 



8. If discolored in the middle, storms are to be 

 expected about the full, or about the wane, if her 

 upper born is affected in like manner. 



9. When on her fourth day she appears spot- 

 less, her horns unblunted, and neither flat nor 

 quite erect, but betwixt both, it promises fair 

 weather for the greatest pait of the month. 



10. An erect moon is generally threatening and 

 unfavorable, but particularly denotes wind ; though 

 if she appear with short and blunted liorns, rain 

 may rather be expected. 



VII. FROM WINDS. 



1. When the wind veers about uncertainly to 

 several points of the compass, rain is pretty sure 

 to follow. 



2. Some have remarked, that if the wind, as it 

 veers about, follows the course of the sun, from 

 t!ie East towards the West, it brings fair weather ; 

 if the contrary foul ; but there is no sign of rain 

 more infallible, than a whistling or howling noise 

 of the wind. 



3. Wind turning to North-East, continuing there 

 two days, without rain, and not turning South the 

 third day, or not raining the third day, will likely 

 continue North-East for 8 or 9 days fair, and then 

 come South again. 



4. If it turn again out of the South to the North- 

 East, with rain, and continue in the North-East 

 two days, without rain, and neither turns South 

 or rains the third day, it is likely to continue 

 North-East two or three months. 



5. After a Northerly wind, for the most of two 

 months or more, and then coming South, there 

 are usually three or four fair days at first, and then 

 on the fourth or fifth day comes rain, or else the 

 wind turns North again, and continues dry. 



6. If it returns to the South within a day or two, 

 without rain, and turns Northward with rain, 

 and returns to the South in ons; or two days, as 

 before, two or three times together after this sort, 

 then it is likely to be in the South or Soutli-Wcst 

 two or three tnonths together, as it was in the 

 month before. 



7. Fidr weather for a week with a S(>utherly 

 wind, is likely to produce a great drought, if there 

 has been luuch rain out of the S.mtb belore. 'I he 

 wind usually turns from the North to South with 

 a quiet wind without rain ; but returns to the North 

 with a strong wind and rain. The strongest wind is, 

 when it turns from South to North by West. 



8. If you see a cloud rise against the winder 

 with win<l, when that cloud comes up to you, the 

 wind will bhiw the same way the cloud came. 



9. When the wind varies for a lew boms, and 

 afterwards begins to blow constant, it will con- 

 tinue for many days. 



10. Whatever wind begins to blow in the morn- 

 ing, usually continues longer than that, which 

 rises in the evening. 



11. If the wind be East or North-East in the 

 fore part of the summer, the weather is likely to 

 continue dry ; and if Westward towards the end 

 of the summer, then it will also continue dry. 



12- If in great rains the winds rise or fall, i 

 signifies the rain will forthwith cease. 



