A Change in the Weather

I have to put this on the blog, quick, before all the leaves fall off the trees. We've been busy getting the leaves off the lawns and mulched and ready to go back onto the gardens for the winter, and there are still plenty left on the trees so no doubt we'll get to do it all again before we're done. But this post is about changes in the weather, and as the leaves fall and the autumn nights lengthen, we know we are all in for some weather changes.

This picture shows a tree with the leaves turned upside down. We call it "showing their petticoats" and trees do it before a change in the weather -- usually before rain. It's a better indicator of weather than most of the Weather Channel information! There's even a weather proverb for it: "Leaves turning silver a change will deliver."That's because it is so closely related to the wind direction.In calm conditions or with the wind coming from its normal, fair-weather direction, the tops of leaves get the most sunlight and turn a darker green. When the wind shifts (a frequent indicator of stormy weather approaching) the leaves get turned the "wrong" way and show their lighter "silver" undersides. Even if rain doesn't arrive in your neck of the woods, the silver leaves at least mean that the wind has changed direction and/or increased speed. Up here in the Northern Hemisphere, the weather moves west to east, and storms rotate in a counter-clockwise direction. Knowing that can be useful!



Another sure sign that there's a change in the wind comes with sundogs around the sun -- and while I always feel they should called moondogs when they are around the full moon, in fact they are called a halo around the moon. Sun dogs and moon halos are rainbows -- full circle rainbows -- and they indicated moisture in the air. Look for a drastic change in the weather within 12 - 24 hours. Of course, there's a weather proverb about the moon halo: When the moon is in her house, rain or snow will come. But not necessarily so -- if the weather has been really dreary, sundogs and moon halos still indicate a change, usually for the better!

Taken in the spring, when the ice was just leaving the lakes, this is one of my favourite shots of a sundog around the setting sun. A friend of ours visiting from Germany, Bettina, nailed the shot.

We live now isolated from the weather for the most part, but we really shouldn't be surprised by it. There are plenty of signs out there, from a change in the wind direction to a tree turning its leaves if we are looking for them. And plenty of weather lore and proverbs to help guide us!