The Scented Weather World of Silvan Betschart
Silvan Betschart, a Swiss-born man, is a Wetterschmöcker, a natural weather forecaster who makes his predictions by observing nature. Silvan Betschart is the youngest of…
Tag: natural weather forecasting
The Meaning of Summer Mists
This morning, I stepped out into a dense mist and it was a glorious omen; I paused to check my pack for sun cream before…
The Backstory to a Weather Book
In 2018 I set out to write a book about the weather. The plan was to stick true to a philosophy and approach that I…
The Meaning of Mist on a Summer Morning
Mist on a summer morning can be a forecast of good weather ahead. On misty mornings in summer, we can get the feeling that the…
How Can I Tell If A Cloud Will Bring Rain?
Is it going to rain? What a popular question. The key to longer-term forecasts lies in studying changes in clouds and fronts over hours, but…
Rainbow Natural Navigation Mini Quiz
I took this photo of a rainbow in Sussex, southern England, late in the day, a little over a week ago. Which way are we…
The Temperature Rises Before Snow Arrives
The temperature often rises just before it snows, but why? When it is very cold in winter, we instinctively feel that snow is likely. It…
Two Cloud Signs Showing Rain Likely Soon
There are two strong cloud signs in this picture showing that rain is likely soon. A heavy downpour started 20 minutes after this photos was…
Which Way Are We Looking?
Two questions today. I took this picture yesterday. Which direction are we looking? And a tougher one: what sign is there in this picture that…
The Joy of Signs in Spring
by Tristan Gooley Time outdoors has become precious and there’s a joy in this. We’re all about to get better at appreciating the beauty and…
How to Navigate with Rainbows
Many people believe that a thing must be either beautiful or practical. But nature brims with examples that manage both. Rainbows are pretty, but they…
Red Sky in the Morning, Shepherd’s Warning
Latest News: The Secret World of Weather book contains hundreds of weather signs. As the shepherds warn us, a red sky in the morning is…
22 Degree Halo and Contrail Shadow
My thanks to Alan Gibson, urbane forager and regular contributor to this blog, for another great image. In this picture we are looking at two…
Weather Lore
Welcome to the page where I have collected a few weather lore sayings and laid out the meteorological truth, or otherwise, behind them. Breaking News:…
Rayleigh Scattering
However clear the sky, however free from even the wispiest of clouds, the sky is never uniformly blue. It is always closer to white near…
Circumzenithal Arcs
My thanks to Simon Cadman for the following generous email and some great images of some sun dogs and the more rarely-spotted, ‘upside-down rainbow’, also…
More Beautiful Sun Dogs
My thanks again to Alan Gibson for sending over some great images. These are sun dogs or parhelia and parts of a “22 degree halo”.…
Weather Forecasting with Bees
My thanks to Michael Adam, a bee keeper for contributing to the discussion about the relationship between bees and weather. After reading the page on…