WEATHER LORE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 23 December 1922, Page 10

WEATHER LORE

HINTS I'OR THE HOLIDAYS THE BAROMETER TAUBERS AN INNOCENT DELUSION “Oli, time's the one, we keep -for the members to lap; the real one is in tho office/ 1 explained the club steward to the new member who remarked that the ■‘glass” in tic; halt had been remarKabiy (steady for days, says Hie Auckland j Star. Nine men out of ten cannot rejsisL the temptation to operate on the face oi the barometer with an inquisitive forefinger. To sec the way some _ of Those questioners ot the meteorological oracle peck at the glass yon would think I they were under the impression that The works wore something like those oi a very cheap watch that goes as Jong as you shako it. They don't seem to be aware that the actual movement of ‘the metal vacuum that works the indicator is almost infinitesimal, end that The gear that multiplies the actiorpso that it can be translated into something readable on the graduated scale is of a most delicate nature. It takes a person with, good eyesight to detect the links of the tiny chain that moves the barometer hand. Tapping the barometer as energetically as some people do is about equivalent to holding up a two-months’ old infant by the feet and giving it liall-a-dozen “jiggely-jigs” as though you were shaking something down in a sack/ AN UNRELIABLE ORACLE And the amusing part about this tapping 1 1 a hit is that ninety-nine men out of a hundred are not a whit, the wiser when the indicator recovers from its 'shock and comes to rest. The most they can tcdl is whether the glass is rising or falling, hut 1-hat in itself is useless; for the meaning ot a rise varies according to its nature and also according to the locality. The “ I In, a rising glass; it’s going to he, tine’ school would get a. shock, tor instance, it they happened to be yachting down Gable End Foreland way, with a- light northerly blowing, and then a calm, followed'by a rapidly-rising glass. In a very short while the gentlemen would be bucking into a “southerly buster” that would make them lose faith in the up and down theory of tho barometer. You have only to stand in (he vestibule at the Auckland post office- to see how wide-spread is flic cull of reading the barometer. All. sorts of people come along and peer knowingly at the purple ink trail left on Hie hnrngram, by the little machine, which is cased in glass and bears (he polite prohibition.' “Please do not tap.” All but a

I wry infinitesimal propoDinn a v '’ no | doubt. nJ I hr; “i isf- and tali’’ school of readers—-yon are probably one yoimscll, and find it jn-i about as successful as following the weather forecasts of the meteorologist—but- a man must- have a few hobbies in this dull world, and that of foretelling the weather is one of the most innocent. DON’T LAUGH It must he an atavistic desire, this rather pardonable, foible of foretelling it hn weather. Country people have the faculty almost as n;-lui:.!ly as animals and birds, but it is one of tbo.se rural gifts or habits or whatever you like to call il that the townsman soon loses. So that next lime Brown taps the barometer, his head on -one side like a wise bird, don’t laugh at him—lie is only obeying an instinct that is a reminder of the days before man sold Ids freedom for a weekly pay envelope. But a you really wish to become learned in weather lore it would Vie much more sensible to follow the methods of the countryman. Life is 100 shirt for most of us to acquire the other way that in- | dudes barometers, wind gauges and decimals. Now that the holidays are coining on, the. query, “Will it be fine?” will he asked half a dozen times a week, so it may not he out of place to give a few hints for answering the question. We v.’ follow tire lines of the countryman. Watch the sky at sunset. If there are pale tints, wind and rain may lie counted upon to follow soon. There is a good deal of truth in the old adage that Red sky at night is the shepherd’s delight! Red sky in the morning, sliqpherd’s warning, If the sun should sink to rest in a bed of laighth lined clouds, then a fine day on the morrow may he looked for. A grey rUinrise. to those who are up sulhcienlly early to observe, is another indication of a fine day. TELL-TALE CLOUDS A copper sky, either at night or in the morning, is not a happy sign. Such conditions usually lead to ’bunderstorms, accompanied ‘ by heavy ram. Another precursor of Ibis type oi weather is great towering, heaped-up cloud.-:, vith a black and gloomy base. Fixing men will tell you that they lower high above other clouds, sometimes t-e llie extent of two miles, and they are beautiful yet terrifying tilings to behold. If yon are anxious to knoxv what •SOM, of an afternoon may he expected, keep an eve on Hie clouds in the, morn-

, mu'. I Should I lift cloud; - . lift of tilft small, ■ ■woolly iy]to. with bases, there will ibe line weather. if they are eumulus 'don, is massive and conical ii« s l : ■ <j>r: ' npf)frn*illu; near find showing no signs of disappearing hy noon, (lion showers ‘ ore- likely. I A ceiloin sign of a coming spell of line weather is when clouds which have' j (iv 'irast liie sky dear away in the ] form of an arch. I If there should happen to he a moon when you are away cm holiday a halo around it is a sure sign of wet weather. This halo is itself produced, by precipitated water between the earth and ihc moon, and the larger and more plain the circle the nearer are the rain clouds. Above all else, always scan the sky ie the direction from which the wind is blowing, because that is where any changed conditions will wnne fiom.