General Interest

Most people know some interesting facts about the weather. It is often a topic that is included in conversations. There are also often strange things that people believe about the weather. Here are just a few sayings and facts.

Weather Sayings

Have you ever thought about how many sayings you know about the weather? We all know lots of them. Why do you think there are so many? Well, we have to spend most of our time in contact with the weather. It influences the clothes we wear, the way we heat our buildings, the activities which we can do and much, much more. Below are just a few examples of unofficial weather forecasting.

A rhyme which many people know is -
Red sky at night,
Shepherd's delight.
Red sky in morning,
Shepherd's warning.

Try asking an adult what it means. Did their parents ever say it to them? Why would shepherds be especially interested in the weather?

A Pot of Gold?

People sometimes say that there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. In the video on the right you can see a full rainbow, stretching from one point on the horizon to another. Which end would you go for your pot of gold? Would you find one? Can you see which end has a double rainbow? See more about rainbows on the Sunshine Page.

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Unusual Weather Predictors

Another idea which people think will help them to say what the weather is going to be like is just as surprising. Some people look at pine cones. If they are closed they say that it will be fine weather. If they are opened up it will be wet weather. Try it and see if it works

Folk law

This charming flower is called a scarlet pimpernel. It can also be know as a poor man's weatherglass. It opens it's flowers when the sun shines, and closes them when it is dull. How useful would this be to help predict the weather? See a real weather glass on the More About Air Pressure page.

A Weather House

This picture shows a Weather House. It is about thirty years old. At the time when it was bought most houses had one of these. When the lady comes out it is going to be fine, dry weather. When the man is out it is going to rain. You may realise that this is not so good at predicting the weather as telling you what the weather is doing at the moment.

Weather Instruments on stamps, postcards and other postal items

The topic of the weather is so important that it is bound to be included on pictures of postage stamps. The link in this section leads to a wonderful page with weather images from all over the world. It is great fun to browse the links. This Weather and Climate Philately page proves how important and interesting the weather is to people all over the world. See something to do based on stamps and the weather in the 'Something to do' section on the right.

Art

When you have taken you weather photographs you might like to have some fun with them.
You can use the slide show facility in your software or you can slot your images into a MS PowerPoint slide show. If you want to use some special effects you can use a free package called Microsoft Photo Story.
To change their appearance load them up into a graphics package and see what special effects you can use on them. Try them out, and use the undo button until you find something you like. You don't have to use the whole photograph, you could crop it first to use the most suitable part. The examples below show a frosty dandelion which has had a special kaleidoscope effect added.
dandlion with frostkaleidoscope dandelion

Weather Sightings

Although you probably will not believe it, this is a picture of a 'water spout-like' event. It was taken in Aberystwyth, Wales, in August 1999. It was out at sea, and faded away before it hit land where it could have done some damage. Although the picture is poor, it does show you that if you know what you might see, you have more chance of seeing it. Other people, not interested in the weather, will not even have noticed this.

Many images of weather are very pretty. They often have regular patterns. They cannot always be explained. The image on the left was on the playground on a frosty day. The design was made up of ice crystals.