Probably the most well-known weather folklore is the story of groundhog forecasters, the most famous of which is Punxsutawney Phil. But hey, who said weather prediction had to be mysterious? Phil Sleeps In It isn’t too surprising that leaves turning over amid whipping might portend rain. Due to high humidity and wind, the transforming leaves of some deciduous trees indicate that precipitation is often not far behind. Some say that when the leaves of trees curl or flip their undersides up, rain is on the way. This lovely aroma is especially pronounced, and especially welcomed, after a dry spell. Rain on pavement smells different from rain on trees, but the collective term for the resulting odor is petrichor. This scent may spread as a heads-up to people nearby. When the rain finally arrives and hits the dirt and pavement or trees and grass, it knocks loose molecules on these surfaces and creates the distinctive smell of rain, or the distinctive smells of rain - the smell will differ depending on what the rain hits. Just before a storm hits, ozone fills the air. Next time someone tells you they can smell the end of a drought or an oncoming storm, don’t scoff. This can herald a change in the weather, often incoming showers. The phenomenon usually begins in upper level-clouds, where ice crystals bend and reflect lunar light. Ring Around the MoonĪ halo circling the moon means bad weather is on the way, a tale also rooted in fact. Hotter or cooler than that and crickets don’t make sounds. This only works between around 55 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit, though. Because crickets are cold-blooded, their activity levels - hence the movement that creates the chirping sound - increase with warm temperatures and decrease with cold. It’s not the most precise way to get a temperature reading, but you’ll usually land within a few degrees either way. It works like this: Count the number of chirps in 15 seconds, then add 37 (some say add 40). According to lore, crickets can tell you the temperature. While hearing crickets denotes silence in today’s slang, at one time crickets were little six-legged weather apps. Here are a few that actually have some basis in science - and a few that don’t. Today we think of these as “old wives’ tales,” or if we’re being charitable, “weather lore.” Some of those old guides, though, were surprisingly reliable. Unsurprisingly, back in the day, people used plenty of rules of thumb for predicting the weather. When they looked at the sky, it wasn’t just an indication of what was happening right then, but could be an indication of what was going to happen.” They could tell if fronts were going to be passing through by the patterns in the clouds. “Long before there were computers or forecasting models, people gazed at the sky all the time. Having a good read on the weather was especially important for farmers, sailors, pilots and anyone else whose lives or livelihood depended on knowing what the weather was likely to do, says Sonia Lasher-Trapp, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. In the days before weather apps (which when you think about it covers most days), and even before television meteorologists, people had to get their weather forecasts by observation and experience.