We are all aware of how wild animals, insects and domestic pets can be forecasters of arriving weather. Whether it be birds becoming agitated and chirping incessantly or just disappearing altogether, prior to major storms....seabirds heading hinter-land. Dogs and cats instinctively seek refuge in safety comfort spots in anticipation of violent weather..."creaping" us out. Cocks crow beyond the wake-up alarm clock.

J'Can Proverb:
"Trouble no set like rain"
(that is, unlike bad weather, we are often not warned by dark clouds on the horizon.)

Here's a Poem of the Day...while looking out to sea as the trees are blown from one direction to another, we try to read the signs that are climatological, animal-y and emotional.
With apologies to a hottie reference to a fire-place, unless you are way up in the mountains!

How to Foretell a Change in the Weather

Rain always follows the cattle
sniffing the air and huddling
in fields with their heads to the lee.
You will know that the weather is changing
when your sheep leave the pasture
too slowly, and your dogs lie about
and look tired; when the cat
turns her back to the fire,
washing her face, and the pigs
wallow in litter; cocks will be crowing
at unusual hours, flapping their wings;
hens will chant; when your ducks
and your geese are too noisy,
and the pigeons are washing themselves;
when the peacocks squall loudly
from the tops of the trees,
when the guinea fowl grates;
when sparrows chip loudly
and fuss in the roadway, and when swallows
fly low, skimming the earth;
when the carrion crow
croaks to himself, and wild fowl
dip and wash, and when moles
throw up hills with great fervor;
when toads creep out in numbers;
when frogs croak; when bats
enter the houses; when birds
begin to seek shelter,
and the robin approaches your house;
when the swan flies at the wind,
and your bees leave the hive;
when ants carry their eggs to and fro,
and flies bite, and the earthworm
is seen on the surface of things.

by Ted Kooser, from Flying at Night.


Closing with a:

A Paradox

I wish the weather-cock would crow
To let his fellow chickens know
That weather fair's for maids and men,
Fowl weather is for cock and hen.
John Bannister Tabb (Catholic priest/poet/educator: 1845-1909)

A lovely poem, and thanks for it. Not as poetic, though, my farmer friend always said that no dew on the morning grass meant rain was coming.

This poem had me smiling from beginning to end. I wish I could write like this. Wow!