I was a bit amazed (amused even) to hear one of the meteorologists on local TV expound on some local “weatherlore” as if there were some validity to it. This woman has been the most significantly accurate and knowledgeable of all the local weathergeeks. She and the radar gear at her channel have had the most consistently reliable predictors of storm tracks and times and her forecasts are often the best. There’s only one other forecaster who even comes close, and he’s on another channel and has been at it for decades.
Anyway, her bit of wisdom has it that:
“Number of fogs in August determines number of snows this winter.”
Also fairly common bit of wisdom in this area is that the “woolly worms” in Crab Orchard (on the Cumberland Plateau between Crossville and Knoxville) will have their coats (or whatever their “fur” would be called) as an indicator of how cold winter will be.
Also there’s something about the number of stars you can count inside the halo around the moon that will be the number of days (could be hours) before it will rain. Never can remember how that one goes.
Do your weatherpersons spout similar folklore in their presentations?
Do the old-timers in your area have pithy weather sayings that you have come to rely on?
