Weather Life
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How many remember when we slept in unheated bedrooms? Burrowing under the covers was a necessity. Colonial ancestors used bedpans filled with hot coals to warm the bed before getting in.
A while back when we had a severe drop in the temperature I heard an old-timer say, “come dark it would be a three dog night.” He wasn’t referring to the rock & roll singing group, but to a custom of sharing your bed with the dogs to keep warm.
I know from experience that some members of the canine community believe sharing your bed, hot or cold, is their right and not to be disputed by a mere human.
A frequent greeting is, “How’s the weather treating you?”
We use weather reference in our speech with good reason. It seldom stays the same for more than three days in a row. An average temperature is nothing more than all the extremes added together and divided. A friend and I discussed this the other morning and concluded that 45 degrees will go in the record books for 2023’s month of January.
We lie where two climate zones intersect, at the far western edge of the Mid Atlantic (Region 9) and the northern section of the Southern (Region 7) according to the maps in the current Harris Farmer’s Almanac.
This makes predicting the weather unpredictable since it depends on if we are above or below the jet stream and how hard the wind blows from which direction. The Weather Channel agrees as they have announced more than once that forecasting for Kentucky is next to “impossible.”
I take no responsibility for the accuracy of the meteorological information contained in Barker’s Almanac for 1903. These rules were issued by the Farmer’s Club of American Institute.
“If the temperature falls suddenly there is a storm forming south of you; if it rises suddenly, a storm is forming north of you. The wind blows from a region of fair weather toward were the storm is forming.”
“Cirrus, or curl clouds, move from where the storm is in progress. Cumulus, called Balls of Cotton (day or summer clouds) move from a region of fair weather to where a storm is forming.
“Where cirrus clouds are moving rapidly from north or northeast, there will be rain inside of 24 hours; when these curl clouds are moving rapidly from south to south-east, there will be a cold rain on the morrow, if in summer, and if in winter there will be a snow storm.”
A farmer friend says, “If you want to know about the weather, walk outside and stand. Then wait a day or two and it will change.”
