Animals feel atmospheric changes better than people. Animal behavior can therefore tell us something about the expected weather.
Bees away from the hive: nice weather. Stay they close to the dwelling, then rain is coming up.
If bees let the winter holes open, mild winter. They make a lot of honey stock, harsh winter.
If she flight to go home, then there is rain in the air.
There is bad weather coming as horseflies are aggressive, spiders crawl from their web and hide under leaves and ants crawl to their nest.
There is nice weather as spiders sit quietly in their web or build a new or larger web.
If rain is coming bees and butterflies seem to disappear from the flower beds they usually visit.
If the mosquitoes go dancing, then it's done raining.
Flies high, nice and dry. Flying low, rain to show.
By the air pressure insects fly lower in approaching rain. Just before a storm flying insect-eating birds such as swallows, fly also lower to the ground, just like their prey. Fish is jumping out of the water to catch low flying insects.
If it rains and the chickens (and cows) shelter, then it does not rain long. However, the chickens walk in the rain, it will remain raining for days.
The finch and the black woodpecker have a ‘rain call'. Not everyone finds that infallible.
The large mud crawler (spindle-shaped fish with 10 beard threads, Misgurnus fossilis) used to be kept indoors as a barometer in jar. He was also called weather eel, and becomes restless when a thunderstorm threatens.
If a storm is coming, then the atmospheric pressure lowers. The nerve ends may register a relative increase in pressure of the synovial fluid. Painful joints can therefore predict storm.
Plants
There is bad weather as cones of spruce or pine and flowers such as bindweed close.
The pine cone protects his seeds from moisture. So he predicts the weather: if the scales are closed, it’s gonna rain. If they are open, it will be nice (dry) weather.
Woodruff as a weather forecaster: when rain is coming the dried herb has a much stronger odors.
There is good weather coming when you see morning dew on the summer lawn, there is little wind and little change in the weather.
Clouds
In Belgium and the Netherlands it rains on 199 days a year, usually hardly worth mentioning. It only rains really 7.5% of the time. So 92.5% of the days are actually "dry."
If the air in the evening turns red and there is a westerly wind then that announces a high pressure, so good weather. A red sunrise means nice weather leaves.
Clouds consist of condensed water vapor or ice crystals. There are many different types of clouds. The weather can be predicted by the type and the size of the clouds. Clouds that are white and hung high in the air bring stable weather. Dark clouds that hang low often bring bad weather.
Cirrus cloud (fiber clouds) usually remains good weather.
If the cirrus clouds thicken this is a harbinger of bad weather. Usually comes after these clouds depression.
Cumulus cloud, fibrous or cauliflower clouds, fleecy clouds: mostly precipitation.
Clouds in strips next to each other: fast bad weather ahead.
Cumulus clouds with irregular shapes, often with no straight bottom (base): fast rain coming.
Small clouds with little elevation: nice weather comes.
Clouds with straight base and often beautiful cauliflowers: it is nice weather, but there may be some rain fall.
Clouds that at the top are very irregular: there are showers, perhaps a thunderstorm!
Clouds that have an anvil: it can hail, heavy rain, and thunderstorms can come.
Stratus (low layer). Thin stratus clouds: mostly drizzle. Thick stratus clouds: mostly rain.
Precipitation measured in mm / m is equivalent to liters per m2: 1 mm = 0.1 cm and 1 meter square it is 100 x 100 cm2 = 10,000 cm2. So if there falls 1 mm of precipitation per square meter that is 0.1 cm x 10,000 cm2 = 1,000 cm3 = 1 liter.
“Weather forecast for tonight: dark.”(George Carlin)
The "smell" of rain is also called petrichor after the Greek "petra": stone, rock and "ichor", as the golden liquid that flows through the veins of the Olympian gods and other immortals.
On stones that have been exposed to heat and drought for a long time, a yellowish oily liquid can be obtained after steam distillation, which spreads the typical smell of rain.
This comes partly from some plants that secrete a liquid during long periods of drought to slow down the growth of roots and the germination of seeds. And partly this is mixed with geosmine, an organic compound that is created by soil and living micro-organisms, such as the bacterium Streptomyces of the strain Actinobacteria. Geosmine is an alcohol that also provides the earthy taste of, among other things, red beetroot and therefore also petrichor. Raindrops after a drought can spread the smell.
Determine wind direction
Easy… if there is a wind cock, or a windsock. Whether flags are flying, or smoke is visible. While windsurfing I looked for the right direction by putting my nose in the wind. Just try it. If your nose is exactly in the right direction, you will feel the same amount of wind on both ear cups.
A weather house where the male is put out at bad weather, the female (beau) at nice weather works properly by connecting the turntable where they stand on with a turned up (twisted) piece of sheep intestine (as a string) to the roof. At dry air the intestine shrinks (and thus rotates). (It is not a true weather forecast, it says something about the current humidity.)
People are more concerned about the weather than about the climate.
On hot days you can make a natural airco by hanging at open doors and windows wet towels (or curtains) and regularly spray them wet. The wind or drafts coming in by the wet cloths, cools by the moisture.
Barometer
Between the air pressure and the chance of rain is a link. The lower the position of the barometer, the greater the chance of precipitation.
Pressure in hPa Rain chances Weather
870-970 90% Heavy storm
970-980 90% Storm
980-990 90% Lots of rain
990 - 1000 80% Rain and wind
1000 - 1003.3 70% Rain and wind
1003.3 - 1006.7 60% Rain and wind
1006.7 - 1010 50% Fickle weather
1010 - 1015 40% Fickle weather
1015 - 1020 30% Fickle weather
1020 - 1030 20% Good weather
1030 - 1033.3 10% Nice weather
1033.3 - 1084 10% Very nice weather
“One way to influence the weather is to hang the laundry.” (Marc Elene Cox)
“Afternoon temperatures are expected from one hour to six hours.”(Herman's Hermits)
Thunderstormsand lightning
Billowinggraycumulus clouds(cumulonimbus orthundercloud) announcethunderstorm.
The bangwhenlightningoccurs is caused by the air inthe pathof the spark which stronglyheatsup and expands. This causesa shock wavethat is heardas thunder.
Soundtravels inthreesecondsa distance of abouta kilometer. The number ofseconds betweenseeing thelightning andhearing thethunderdivided bythreeis aboutthe distancein kilometers tothe storm.
Lightning isa discharge betweennegativeandpositive charges: the earth underthe thunderstormispositively charged; thebottomof the rain showeris negative; and the upside positive. The discharge(negative lightning) sowants to godown andupwards (towardsthe two positivefields). A quarter of thelightninggoesto earth.
Stepwisebyionizationaconducting channel is created inthe air. The dischargeusually goesfromgroundto cloud. We see this asa flash of lightning(the main dischargeor rebound).
Stay inside, or in a(metal) car.Comeout of the water. Stay awayfrom the highest point(includingtrees). Make sure you arenotthe highest point. Wear(or touch) nometal things(ladder, scythe).
Inthe open field, it is best to sit crouchedandhuddleddown with the feet together, because withthe distanceyou also the voltage(step voltage) between your feetis as small as possible.
When Napoleon III in 1854 by a hurricane in the Black Sea lost many ships he commissioned research on severe weather. Thereupon the French astronomer Urbain Leverrier started collecting data. He discovered that a storm is preceded by a turbulent low-pressure area, and weather moved back over hundreds of kilometers. There were more and more meteorological services, data and algorithms. Our computers make the current prospects for 3 days for about 70% correct.
El Niño is the phenomenon whereby every 3 to 7 years in January, the south coast of Peru instead of cold and nutrient-rich water, receives warmer water. This has an impact on the climate in a large part of the Earth. The evaporating hot water leads to heavy rainfall with mudslides and landslides in the normally dry Andes. Fishing takes off tremendously. Australia and Indonesia have to contend with drought and wildfires. El Niño is still not understood.
Little sister La Niña brings just additional cold water, especially in the Caribbean, and brings more rain in Australia and America.
In the Low Countries, they have (as yet known) little effect.
At 9 to 10 kilometers altitude jet streams blow. Meteorologists call them that as the wind blows at an altitude over 100 kilometers per hour (force 11). Sometimes they even get more than 350 kilometers per hour.
An average jet stream is thousands of kilometers long, hundreds of kilometers wide and only a few kilometers high.
He meanders like a river (globaly) from west to east through the atmosphere. The flow is caused by the large temperature difference between the pole and the equator.
The phenomenon has been shown in 1926. Direction and its location are of great importance for the weather. From the north carries a jet stream in our environment general colder air and depressions.
Difference between hoar - frost
Ice is frozen water.
Ice patch: slick spot caused by the freezing of the present water
Rime Spot: smooth place by the freezing of droplets or mist from the air
Rime results from supercooled drops ice after they have come into contact with a frozen surface
Frost is formed at negative temperatures. It is the direct transfer of water vapor to ice. Frost has white ice crystals which contain a lot of air which is giving it a hairy view. You see it as a white deposit on grass, twigs, cars...