Abstract
THIS volume is divided practically into two parts, the first dealing solely with weather folk-lore gathered from many available sources, the second with summaries of local weather signs as based on special reports of observers to the chief of the U.S. Weather Bureau. The latter are arranged alphabetically as regards the names of the towns from which these reports are received, and deal for the most part with the prospect of fair or foul weather as indicated by the appearance of clouds, direction of wind, movements of barometer, &c. In fact, weather-folk-lore, as such, is naturally conspicuous by its absence. This portion of the work will not be of much interest to Britishers, as the signs only hold good for the particular parts of the country in question. The first portion, on the other hand, is of more general interest, as many of the quaint sayings were, so far as can be judged, the results of observation of long experience. The subject is subdivided under several different titles, according as the weather was foreshadowed by wind, barometer, clouds, humidity, temperature, &c, or by the peculiar effects of these on objects animate or inanimate. Many curious sayings, probably unfamiliar to British readers, are here collected, but one, with regard to the oeffects of atmospheric moisture that precedes rain, is rather gruesome. “When the locks turn damp in the scalp house surely it will rain” (American Indians).
Weather Folk-Lore and Local Weather Signs.
Prepared under the direction of Willis L. Moore., Chief U.S. Weather Bureau, by Edward B. Garriott. Pp. 153. (Washington, U.S.A.: Government Printing Office, 1903.) Price 35 cents.
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L., W. Weather Folk-Lore and Local Weather Signs . Nature 69, 485 (1904). https://doi.org/10.1038/069485a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/069485a0