Red skies at night, to the sailors delight. Red skies in the morning, sailor take warning. Friends of mine ask me all the time what the weather forecast holds for the upcoming week, because they know I am always looking for some good weather to fish. Captains and their crew have been looking at the weather for decades to predict upcoming weather. In fact I am convinced most captains are more in tuned to the weather than the Howdy Dudy look alike, wearing the tacky tie on the 6 o’clock news. Throughout the centuries and prior to the development of modern technological weather devices, the weather has been read primarily through basic observations. Somewhere along the line, the interpretation of these basic observations has been put into proverbs to make them easier to remember. I find these proverbs to be an easy and helpful way of understanding and reading some of the basic conditions that determine our weather. Provided herein are some of the most popular proverbs and a brief interpretation of each.
Red skies at night, to the sailors delight. Red skies in the morning sailor take warning. or Rainbows at night to the sailors delight. Rainbows in the morning, sailors take warning. This proverb is undoubtedly the most popular, however for those unfamiliar the interpretation is as follows. This proverb is based on two basic weather principles. Sunlight will reflect off of clouds making them appear red. Also most major weather patterns flow from the west to the east. As the sun sets in the west it lights the east and if it is red at night we know it is clear to the west, and the sun is illuminating clouds that are over us currently that will be pushing further east and away. However in the morning, as the suns rises in the east and it will light clouds in the west making red skies, we know to expect rain as these clouds will be moving from west to east.
Winds that swing against the sun and winds that bring the rain are one. Winds that swing around the sun keep the rain on the run. The sun swings e