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.

The Robins Are Back

Yes, it isn't even Christmas yet and the robins are back.  I'm thinking it will be a much milder winter than last year.  The robins know.

According to the fogs in August, we should have 8 or 9 snows.

According to the date of the moon on the first snowfall, we should have 5 snowfalls.

According to the robins - not much of a winter at all.

I vote for a little winter, but mostly I side with the robins.

Thanks for visiting with me.

Kathi

Grandma's Weather Lore

I've looked at books about weather lore, how cattle turn their backs to the wind, "red at night, sailor's delight...", those kinds of weather foretelling.  But Grandma taught me one that I've never seen anywhere else.

Farmers have always had to know how the weather and the climate would effect their crops.  If you cut hay before a rainstorm, it will rot on the ground.  You have to have several dry days in a row and get the hay under cover or stacked before a rain.  Grandma was a farmer's wife, so she was in on all the secrets.

Here's the one I've never seen anywhere else.  On your calendar, mark the first thunderstorm after spring starts.  If you live on a line even with or near the southern border of Wisconsin, the first frost will be 6 months after that date.  I tried it for 13 years and Grandma wasn't off more than 3 or 4 days in that whole time.  I'm learning the spacing for southern Indiana.  Last year, it came out to 6 1/2 months.  If it comes out fairly consistent after a few more tries, I'll have the local formula.

You might try the experiment for yourself.

Thanks for visiting with me.

Kathi

Fog

This morning, it's either foggy or very, VERY humid.  In my opinion, it's both. 

There's a bit of weather lore that I have to remind myself of before August 1st.  I need to count the fogs in August.  That will tell me how many snows there will be this winter.  Last year, we had a very foggy August with 13 fogs.  Not all of them were clamp-down, can't-see-anything fogs.  Most of them were just really thick air. 

Once we got into November, I started counting the snowfalls - anything measurable.  It started snowing around Thanksgiving and pretty much didn't stop until the end of March.  There were 13 measurable snows.  The last couple weren't much, but they were enough to count.

After Christmas, the school kids didn't attend a complete week of school until well into February.  Boy, did they have snow days to make up!

So now I've reminded myself before the month of August begins.  I'll mark my calendar all month so I have an accurate count.

Anyone want to try it out for themselves?  Will it work where you live?

Thanks for visiting with me.

Kathi