h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Thanks for stopping by! Please add your weather 'wisdom' below...

Its a bit Dublin specific but I heard this on the tour bus:
"If you can see Howth Head from here, it's going to rain. If you can't, it is raining"

...when the cows are all lying down in a field instead of standing up.

(This is probably some old wive's tale but I heard it throughout my childhood in Missouri)

Another weather predictor:

Red skies at morning; Sailors take warning. Red skies at night, sailor's delight. (I guess that's supposed to mean that sailors are only happy when the weather is good)

Darn it must be raining here in Belfast even though there's not a cloud in the sky. I always knew there was something wrong with the Irish weather.

DJ - Thanks! That one is added.

Rossi - Thanks! But I've already got those in the entry. Do you have any others?

Similar to Duncan's but from the east coast of Northern Ireland.

If you can see Scotland, it's about to rain, if you can't it's raining.

Plus as a weather indicator. When cows are lying down in a field it'll remain fine, once they stand up rain is on it's way.

Here's a weather thing that get passed around despite being untrue:
Swans flying into the wind mean a hurricane doth come.

And here a some slightly more reliable ones:
Cockrels and male mistlethrushes sing when a thunderstorm approaches.
The Scarlet Pimpernel (a flower apparently) closes its petals when rain's about to come.
Swallows fly high when winds are light. So when they start flying low, storms a-coming!
Worms plug the entrances to their holes when it gets cold

Admittedly, the worms one (and the cricket one already up there) are just telling you what you'll already know.

That thing about red skies for sailors, I always thought it was for shepards...

Some people can literally smell a rain before it arrives. You know that smell right after a really heavy rain? Some people (myself included) can smell it 10 minutes or so before a rain arrives. I was called crazy (and sometimes lucky) because of my preditictions by a friend until he learned to smell it himself...it's a very faint smell.