Snow in Southern Indiana

On Thursday last week, it was 60 degrees. On Friday, we had 7 inches of snow. In southern Indiana usually the snow melts before another snow falls. Not this time! Last night we got another two inches.

I'm going to have to find the bird feeding tube. The poor things can't find the seed on the tree stump any more.

And I thought I was in the land of easy winters. Shows you what I know...

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi Linz

P.S. Here's the weather lore for predicting snowfall borrowed from http://www.naturealmanac.com/archive/predicting_winter/predicting_winter.html

Snow

There are three infallible methods of predicting snowfall for the coming year so take your pick:

1) Count the number of foggy mornings in August. This number will be the same as the number of snowfalls for the following winter, or if you're not a morning person... (Most of the days in August had fog this year. So somewhere around 25-30 snows.)

2) Count the number of days from the first snowfall until Christmas. This number will also give the correct number of snowfalls to expect, or... (Our first snow fell on November 12th. 43 snows?)

3) Count the number of days from the first snowfall of the season to the preceding New Moon. This, too, will tell you what the coming winter will bring. (First snow on November 12th. New moon on November 3rd. 9 snowfalls?)

A fact well-known to our ancestors but hardly ever taught today is that when snow lies in drifts in the shade and refuses to melt, these drifts become "snow breeders" which attract more snow. Also, if the sun shines while snow is falling, expect more snow very soon. If your dog howls at the moon it signifies an early snow. And remember, a white Christmas means a green Easter (and vice versa). This is an excellent way to gauge the length of winter since it gives you an idea of what to expect several months in advance.

I know the weather lore and keep track of the fogs in August, but this year I can't come up with a good guess. The lore doesn't match itself - which it usually does. So here goes nothing...

Thanks for visiting with me,

Kathi Linz

P.S. It's mid-April and I noted all the snows on the calendar. Our snows started on November 12 - which is pretty early for southern Indiana - and continued into March. It isn't out of the realm of possibility that we could get another snow, but the odds are bad. So the total for this year, everything from a trace to several inches, was 26 snowfalls. That best matches the fogs in August prediction.