Unscientific Weather Forecasting

by Hattie Dyck

Part One of a Three Part Series taken from her personal book: Amazing Tales from Nova Scotia published in 2021

“Kraai op een dooi stok Morgen een natter ok””

This little Dutch rhyme given me by Mary - Ann Yuill, Old Barns, means, in English, “Crow on a dead stick, tomorrow a wet skirt.” That was one of the ways her parents, Mary and the late Gus Eikelenboom of Shubenacadie, predicted the weather. She and her husband Stephen laughingly say they know it’s going to rain if they can hear the train as it travels through Truro which is about 5 km from their farm. They also observe the muskrats in their pond swimming constantly up and down the pond before a storm.     

    Another old sign is when they see a crow sitting on a dead post.

When Mary-Ann hears the cicada (a large insect) singing in the trees, she prophecies hot weather ahead. The cicada comes most often in summer. And, spider webs on the dew on the grass on a summer morning is another sign of clear, hot weather.

    In the winter months she sometimes sees what she calls “ a snow sun,” which generally arrives on a cloudy day. She will see the sun shining through the clouds, and although it has a mist over it, it looks both round and hazy. When this is seen it means that snow will come the next day.

    When the seagulls head inland to the farm fields, Stephen knows there is a storm at sea. Carl Wall, Tatamagouche, believes if there is no dew on the grass in the morning it is a sign of rain. And in winter if there is water covering the ice on a pond it is a sign of soft weather. This could be either snow or rain. Also, when the leaves turn upside down in summer and fall it is a sign of rain.

Eleanor Taylor, North River, remembers when Otter Lake which was near her childhood home at Cornwall, Lunenburg County, was the weather map for the village. The lake which was about ¾ of a mile long was fondly called “Lloyd’s Lake” after her father Lloyd Veinotte. It was a small lake that usually iced over early and so was a favorite spot for the neighborhood kids. If, when they were skating on it the ice was making a cracking sound, it meant a storm was coming.

   Also, hairline cracks that didn’t cause any damage to it, but clearly showed up, would mean a storm was not too far away. And, if you stood on the land around the lake and saw a clear patch that looked like a road across it you could be sure a storm was imminent. Also, she recalls the blue jays screeching before a rainstorm.

    Myrtle Taylor, Barss Corner looks for mares’ tails or clouds formed in the shape of a mackerel if rain is on the way. Also, when the wind is south and it backs around to the east the weather will not clear quickly. She advocates digging potatoes after the full moon (in the dark of the moon) so they will not rot. When she sees cobwebs on the grass in the morning she expects a fine day.

    Melba Fancy of New Cornwall says when the electric wires hum it’s a sign of cold weather to come. A circle around the sun is a sign of wet weather. When the house snaps and cracks at night she knows cold weather is quickly coming and when the cows lie down before 9 o’clock in the morning it’s a sign of rain. Also, she looks to the moon as a weather forecaster. When it’s half full and appears to be standing on end there is no water in it so it indicates fine weather. If it’s half full and appears to be lying on its back it’s holding the rain that’s on its way.

   Fog in the hollow means a fine day will follow, is a part of Ivan McNutt’s forecasting. Mr. McNutt lives at Tatamagouche Mountain.

   Lillian Theriault, Halifax can smell the dampness of rain in the air, and she feels it in her bones. She always knows when it’s going to rain without listening to scientific weather forecasts. And, she says, 97% of the time she is right. When she wants to forecast the weather she stands outside, looks at the clouds and can tell if it’s going to rain, be windy or both. If the clouds are coming from the south and rolling low it’s a sign of rain. The big clouds are wind clouds. Her mother-in-law Ida Theriault of Caraquet, New Brunswick, believes if the wind is coming from the north-west means rainy weather will soon clear up. Lillian’s mother, Delia Perry, Egmont Bay is also an unscientific weather person. If the clouds are rolling low and coming from the south she deems that rain is on the way.

    Angela MacDonnell, New Glasgow, uses the same method. When she stands outside and smells the air, she says that good, fresh smell like sheets that come off the clothesline, means rain is on its way.