My grandparents had a very impressive piece of weather gauging equipment which was kept on an outdoor windowsill. It showed the current state of the weather. On a trip to the seaside they had bought a souvenir, a china donkey, that had a rope tail and the words on the stand it stood on said "If tail is wet, it is raining, if tail is dry, it is not raining.". This was always accurate. Twinges of rheumatism are also a good indicator of wet weather!

I personally like the story about the island in one of the bays on the West Coast of Ireland. In that part of the world, they say that if you can see the island, then it's going to rain - and if you can't see it, it already is.

I completely agree with Ann re twinges of rheumatism being the best predictor of rain. I have an old injury to one knee and it never fails to warn me of impending precipitation. We are now in a drought, in Tidewater, VA and my knee has never felt better....

I like the predictors of cold winters which study wooly caterpillars, number of nuts on beech trees, and heavier fur coats on dogs, as well. I've found those to be be fairly accurate....

headaches for me-heavy, eye-closing, stomach turning headaches that are not strictly migraines-no aura-but still very painful. I know when the storm is coming, and I long for it to get here-nothing like a good boomer to clear the head!
A bit northwest of woodnymph, we aren't in a drought, but the lawn is getting a bit brown and crunchy and I am carrying water to the potted plants. Today was hot, humid and sunny-a day to turn the air conditioner back on, alas.

In Iceland we have the same superstition about the Dog Days of August. The first day decides what the weather will be like during that period. I seem to recall something similar about the first day of Ãorri, which was one of our old lunar months, but I'll have to look it up.

We have so many weather superstitions, but the two that are most common are the above one and the belief that if there is frost in the night between summer and winter (the first day of summer is the 3rd Thursday in April), the summer will be a good one for farmers, i.e. the right proportions of rain and sun for a good hay crop.

We have two weather clubs (mostly made up of retired farmers and seamen) here that observe the behaviour of animals and keep records of weather patterns that go back decades. They have sometimes been more accurate in their long term predictions than the weather bureau.

All right, I give up. I recall a quotation from Shakespeare about St. Swithin's Day and I just can't find it online. Also looked under Swithun. Does anyone remember this reference or quotation? It will plague me til I find out so please help.

Ginnie, don't give up! I wonder if you are mixing up Swithin with St Crispin's Day and thinking of the famous speech from Shakespeare's Henry V?

Here is a link that might be useful: St Crispin's Day Speech: Laurence Olivier

Thank you, thank you Veer. You are exactly right (and my brain has turned to mush, it seems). What a wonderful clip--thanks so much for posting it. What a pleasure. The Bard of Avon has no match.

ginny, you can't beat the old films can you? It's difficult to think of a 're-made' movie that is better than the first time round; even if it was originally a play!

On the weather theme I was wondering how many books there are where the elements play a large part in the story/plot.
Jane Eyre comes to mind as from the first sentence "There was no possibility of taking a walk that day as the cold winter wind had brought with it cloud so sombre and a rain so penetrating . . ." and the rest of the book has those looming-cloud scenes set on the Yorkshire moors.
A US book that I 'discovered' when my daughter brought it home from school was the enchanting story Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright, in which the farm crops are dying from lack of water. The description of the thunder storm is so real and vivid.
And what about books dealing with hot, dry weather?

Books about hot, dry weather? How about Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove?

When all you HP fans come out of your trances/tears spare a thought for us soggy folk in southern and SW England.
St Swithin has lived up to his reputation and the rain continues to fall every day ( 5 ins on Friday nearby) and much more is expected.
The flooding may not be on the New Orleans scale, and no bodies have been left to float in filthy water but many folk have been driven out of their homes for the second time in three weeks as the rivers Thames, Avon and Severn are up to 15 feet above their usual heights.
Our local Council proved true to form when I phoned them before this latest downpour and enquired about sandbags (surface water floods our cellar and comes in under the front door . . .and out the back).

Me: Will you please provide us with some sandbags?

C. man: We don't provide them.

Me: Where did all the bags down the round come from then?

CM: Oh yes. We have run out, phone the County Council, Highways dept.

Me (to C C HD Man) Could you provide us with sandbags please.
CCM (suspicious) Who told you to ring us? We don't do bags, Go to your nearest builders merchants and buy bags and sand.

And we wonder why the Government and local Councils are being accused of incompetence (nothing new there) for nor putting flood prevention measures in place and allowing new homes to be built in flood-plains? Answers on a post card.

I think I'll read Lonesome Dove to warm me up.

Here is a link that might be useful: BBC News (photos on right)