The matter how weather was predicted in the past may sound almost like a joke nowadays. Fortunately for us today, we have Doppler radars and satellites to help give us detailed reports. Such reports are pretty accurate and allow us to make important decisions as big as organizing a trip or as little as deciding whether to bring along an umbrella. In the past, telling the weather often depended on odd past times such as looking at cows or listening to crickets. Let's take a look at some, shall we?
''A cow's tail to the west is weather coming at its best; a cow's tail to the east is weather coming at its least.''
OK, first of all, in order to generate a good weather report, you must own a cow. Apparently cows in the past were more than milk dispensers, rather they seemed to have barometric powers. Now, methodically thinking, this must have started with somebody with nothing better to do than stare at its cow's tail. This guy was very likely bored if he was able to come to the conlcusion that when its cow's tail was facing west it was a nice day and when its cow's tail faced east, bad weather was approaching. One though must think: ''Why was the cow's tail sticking towards west or east?'' Did it magically just lift itself up and point sideways? Perhaps the cow had super powers that made its tail act as it had a mind of its own? What if the cow's tail was just moving west to swat away a fly on its western butt cheek? Or maybe what if the the cow was simply having some sort of odd bowel movement?
''If cows are standing in a field it will be fine, but if they are lying down it is going to rain''
This is again proof of how important cows were in predicting weather. Now, all cows may lay down every now and then, so eventually presuming a herd of cows is composed of about 50- 60 cows the chances of a good amount laying down at one point or another are very high. This would translate in raining almost every other day. Also what would happen if a cow is laying down and it starts to rain? Will it just sit there and get all wet? It would appear so, since if it would get up too fast and would stand in the field the sun shine would come out!
''When squirrels lay in a big store of nuts, look for a hard winter''
Squirrels are quite smart animals, they work hard for a decent meal. Now if the saying would hold true, should a mild winter be approaching, a squirrel shall say no to the that big pile of nuts laying right beside a tree. Not really a smart move. Also how does one decide how much is a big store of nuts? 10, 20 or 30 nuts?Are there any legislations that have passed that shall fine squirrels picking up more than the allotted amount of nuts allowed when a mild winter approaches?
''Fast runs the ant as the mercury rises''
Now how fast can an ant run? Where speedometers ever placed on ants to record their average velocity? Also why would an ant run when it is getting hot if doing so would make it sweat? How can one tell an ant that is running because the mercury is rising from one that is running because it is almost missing an appointment or because it had a sudden urge to use the restroom?
''You can tell the temperature by counting a cricket's chirps''
In my neck of the woods, honestly crickets will chirp all night long. Also do crickets calculate in Celsius or Fahreneit? How do crickets know when to stop? What to do when there are a multitude of crickets chirping all together, how do you tell them apart? I seriously would like to know how this method works before I stay up all night counting the 10500th chirp until tomorrow moring!
As funny as the above weather sayings may be, some have scientific evidence. For instance, it appears that some cows tend to develop gastro-intestinal disturbances when it is about to rain, causing them to lay down. The crickets chirping method is actually true, according to this article crickets indeed had the power to predict the temperature as odd as it may sound. This is quoted directly by the article: " By counting the number of cricket chirps in a 14-second period and adding 40, the total will equal the air temperature to within one degree 75% of the time'' Thank God, no need to stay up late! My sincerest apologies to all the crickets of the world, my next question now is: how did crickets learn how to count?