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Old Wives Tales


WhiteXmas

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Posted
  • Location: Renfrewshire
  • Weather Preferences: Snow/Blizzards, Storms, Sun, Lightening
  • Location: Renfrewshire

I was just wondering if anyone knew of any old wive's tales, or beliefs concerning the weather, in terms of what a certain thing means for the coming months? I have heard a few but don't know if they are actually true and was wondering how many there actually are? :doh:

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Posted
  • Location: Renfrewshire
  • Weather Preferences: Snow/Blizzards, Storms, Sun, Lightening
  • Location: Renfrewshire

Found something here whilst I was searching for old beliefs. Most people will have heard of red sky at morning shepherd's warning; red sky at night shepherd's delight. This article gives some very good information : http://www.theweatherprediction.com/habyhints/139/ :)

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Posted
  • Location: The Deben Valley, Suffolk
  • Weather Preferences: Snow, Thunderstorms, very cold (inc. anticyclonic) weather
  • Location: The Deben Valley, Suffolk

Well most of these "Old wives tales" are utter nonsense. However, people may sometimes think that they are corect, as they only ever remember the times when the outcome agreed with the tale, however they do not remember when it did not work. That's just the human way I suppose. Some are true, such as "Red sky at night" and all that, some are only true locally, such as "When the North wind doth blow, then we shall have snow". Here are some more I know of:

1)Oak before the Ash in for a splash, Ash before the oak you're in for a soak"

2)When the rooks nest high in the trees, then the following autumn shall be calm.(makes sense I suppose)

3)When the swallow's nest is high, summer is dry.When the swallow's nest is low, you can safely reap and sow

4)Rain before seven, fine before eleven

5)A sunshiny shower won't last half an hour

6)A cow with its tail to the West makes the weather best. A cow with its tail to the East makes the weather least

7)Ice in November to bear a duck, the rest of the winter'll be slush and muck.

If I think of any more, I will post then.

Edited by suffolkboy_
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Posted
  • Location: Renfrewshire
  • Weather Preferences: Snow/Blizzards, Storms, Sun, Lightening
  • Location: Renfrewshire
The calm before the storm, I bealive this one to be very true I allways find it gets rather calm before I a big stormy, windy weather arrives

Oh, I forgot about that one. Yes that does seem to be true.

Well most of these "Old wives tales" are utter nonsense. However, people may sometimes think that they are corect, as they only ever remember the times when the outcome agreed with the tale, however they do not remember when it did not work. That's just the human way I suppose. Some are true, such as "Red sky at night" and all that, some are only true locally, such as "When the North wind doth blow, then we shall have snow". Here are some more I know of:

1)Oak before the Ash in for a splash, Ash before the oak you're in for a soak"

2)When the rooks nest high in the trees, then the following autumn shall be calm.(makes sense I suppose)

3)When the swallow's nest is high, summer is dry.When the swallow's nest is low, you can safely reap and sow

4)Rain before seven, fine before eleven

5)A sunshiny shower won't last half an hour

6)A cow with its tail to the West makes the weather best. A cow with its tail to the East makes the weather least

7)Ice in November to bear a duck, the rest of the winter'll be slush and muck.

If I think of any more, I will post then.

Thanks suffolk boy that was kind of oyu to post all them :lol:

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Posted
  • Location: The Deben Valley, Suffolk
  • Weather Preferences: Snow, Thunderstorms, very cold (inc. anticyclonic) weather
  • Location: The Deben Valley, Suffolk

No problem WhiteXmas. I was told another one today, which i've never heard before. I was told that if wild mushrooms in October do not peel, then the winter will be cold, and if they do peel, the winter will be mild.

I think this is just one of those wishful thinking ones. I was always told that edible mushrooms peeled, and non edible ones didn't. :unknw:

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Posted
  • Location: Renfrewshire
  • Weather Preferences: Snow/Blizzards, Storms, Sun, Lightening
  • Location: Renfrewshire
No problem WhiteXmas. I was told another one today, which i've never heard before. I was told that if wild mushrooms in October do not peel, then the winter will be cold, and if they do peel, the winter will be mild.

I think this is just one of those wishful thinking ones. I was always told that edible mushrooms peeled, and non edible ones didn't. :unknw:

You really don't know whagt to believe though do you? It could easily happen by fluke one year, and from then on you may think that it's true when it's complete rubbish! Never heard of the mushroom one though. Have you noticed any peeling?

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Posted
  • Location: The Deben Valley, Suffolk
  • Weather Preferences: Snow, Thunderstorms, very cold (inc. anticyclonic) weather
  • Location: The Deben Valley, Suffolk
You really don't know whagt to believe though do you? It could easily happen by fluke one year, and from then on you may think that it's true when it's complete rubbish! Never heard of the mushroom one though. Have you noticed any peeling?

;) I don't really have any belief in it at all to be honest. When outside just now in the garden, I picked a mushroom which did not peel, instead it came off in lumps. So that would suggest a cold winter. Very wishful thinking! I think that if you do rely on old wives tales for the upcoming winter, then you will end up very dissapointed, computers are much more reliable than mushrooms!

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Posted
  • Location: Sheffield,754ft ASL
  • Location: Sheffield,754ft ASL

One of mine is the amount of harvestor spiders I find in my house. For the past decade There has been one or two every autumn/winter. This year however there have been loads! In the past 2 weeks I've had 5! To me that indicates something,but more wishful thinking than any truth! ;)

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Posted
  • Location: Rossland BC Canada
  • Location: Rossland BC Canada

Over here, it's the woolly worm caterpillar, which appears in the autumn. These are fairly short and stubby little creatures that are chocolate brown with dark brown stripes. If there are a lot of them, we are supposed to have a cold winter. I've never seen any kind of study on it, in fact, every year there seem to be a lot of them.

Also, if there are a lot of berries on the trees, etc etc.

How about some updated ones for modern times?

If there are a lot of SUVs on the road, it is sure to be a mild winter.

When the Airbus 380 flies low, soon after it may snow.

Blue patches over Fantasy Island, warmth soon to come.

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Posted
  • Location: Ormesby St Margaret - Nr Gt Yarmouth / Work in Norwich
  • Location: Ormesby St Margaret - Nr Gt Yarmouth / Work in Norwich

One my dad always said was February fills the dyke, be it black or white.

I think there are quite a few old Norfolk sayings I will ask him about them next time I see him.

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Posted
  • Location: Norfolk
  • Location: Norfolk
I was just wondering if anyone knew of any old wive's tales, or beliefs concerning the weather, in terms of what a certain thing means for the coming months? I have heard a few but don't know if they are actually true and was wondering how many there actually are? :wallbash:

If you check out the archives, I had a thread last year in which we collated Old Wives Tales and I produced a (stunningly inaccurate) forecast based on them - if you can find October-December 2006 threads its in there somewhere......

It has lots of them anyway

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Posted
  • Location: Worthing West Sussex
  • Location: Worthing West Sussex
Over here, it's the woolly worm caterpillar, which appears in the autumn. These are fairly short and stubby little creatures that are chocolate brown with dark brown stripes. If there are a lot of them, we are supposed to have a cold winter. I've never seen any kind of study on it, in fact, every year there seem to be a lot of them.

Also, if there are a lot of berries on the trees, etc etc.

How about some updated ones for modern times?

If there are a lot of SUVs on the road, it is sure to be a mild winter.

When the Airbus 380 flies low, soon after it may snow.

Blue patches over Fantasy Island, warmth soon to come.

If you ride your convertible out in spring, then a rainy summer it will bring.

Wash your car on a fine bright day, then rain will come by the end of the day!

Gather your cannabis in by September, and there will be no frost till November. ;)

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Posted
  • Location: Ratby, Leicester.
  • Weather Preferences: Snow, storms
  • Location: Ratby, Leicester.
If you ride your convertible out in spring, then a rainy summer it will bring.

Wash your car on a fine bright day, then rain will come by the end of the day!

Gather your cannabis in by September, and there will be no frost till November. ;)

Well the top 2 were true! :)

I remember this year, how many people had their tops down on the cars in spring when we had that fine weather? Then look what happened! Terrible terrible summer.

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