Skywatch Friday: Sunset GIF

I think these are cirrus clouds. Perhaps somebody can confirm that. It was taken at sunset on August 10, 2022, and were coming from the southeast. "Red sky at night, sailor's delight" was absolutely true. In fact, until today, it has been perfect weather. Thursday was a big disappointment because of the weather: it was my last free day of summer vacation. Today I'm back in school. 😢

Have a great weekend everyone!

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My Woolly Bear Winter Prediction

A woolly bear caterpillar, the larval form of
the Isabella tiger moth (Pyrrharctia isabella)

This is my mostly annual winter weather prognostication for 2009-2010: The equal sized bands of the woolly bear caterpillar that we found out in the woods this fall are forecasting a normal winter. Sort of disappointing for me. I wanted to see a good, hard winter for my first New Hampshire winter. The woolly bear became famous because

• In the fall of 1948, Dr. C. H. Curran, curator of insects at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, took his wife 40 miles north of the city to Bear Mountain State Park to look at woolly bear caterpillars.
• Dr. Curran collected as many caterpillars as he could in a day, determined the average number of reddish-brown segments, and forecast the coming winter weather through a reporter friend at The New York Herald Tribune.
• Dr. Curran's experiment, which he continued over the next eight years, attempted to prove scientifically a weather rule of thumb that was as old as the hills around Bear Mountain. The resulting publicity made the woolly bear the most recognizable caterpillar in North America.

source: Old Farmer's Almanac

A funny thing: I can't remember ever seeing an Isabella tiger moth. You can see them at bugguide.net. You can also read more scientific information about them there!

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Robins and Sugaring

I saw my first robin of the year on Saturday in Wilmot, New Hampshire. According to New England tradition, March 7 was then my lucky day. And it was. The first robin also means that sugaring season has begun —

It is the first mild day of March: Each minute sweeter than before, The redbreast sings from the tall larch That stands beside our door. – William Wordsworth (1770–1850)

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Weather Lore: Origin of Red Sky At Night

What do "rainbow skies in morning" mean?

7 AM, September 27, 2007 in Barton

mrsnesbitt's place: Toad in the Hole part 2!:

Red sky at night, Sailor's delight; 

Red sky at morning, Sailor's warning.

Practical origins for this English nursery rhyme are based on weather predictions and how a red sky at night would indicate fair weather on the following day. In England the words refer to a shepherd who would say that a red sky in the morning was suggesting inclement weather to follow. In America the words relate to a sailor. It should be remembered that there were no weather forecasts, as such, in days gone by and one had to make one's own weather predictions. Those with the most knowledge and experience, such as Sailors and Shepherds, whose lives were dependant on the weather and were fully conversant with changing weather patterns indicated by a 'Red Sky at night'. The original origins of this Nursery Rhyme can be traced to the Bible: Matthew 16:2-3:

2 - He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. 3 - And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?

Thank you, Mrs. Nesbitt, for the background information on this gem.

In the Wikipedia: weather lore article I learned why this particular weather folklore is true:

Weather systems typically move from west to east, and red clouds result when the sun shines on their undersides at either sunrise or sunset[9][10]. At these two times of day, the sun's light is passing at a very low angle through a great thickness of atmosphere, the result of which is the scattering out of most of the shorter wavelengths -- the greens, blues, and violets -- of the visible spectrum, and so sunlight is heavy at the red end of the spectrum. If the morning skies are red, it is due to the fact that clear skies to the east permit the sun to light the undersides of moisture-bearing clouds coming in from the west. Conversely, in order to see red clouds in the evening, sunlight must have a clear path from the west in order to illuminate moisture-bearing clouds moving off to the east. There are many variations on this piece of lore, but they all carry the same message.

Technorati tags: weather+lore Bible red+sky+at+night
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