When clouds appear like rocks and towers…
… the Earth’s refreshed by frequent showers. It is so rewarding when weather lore helps us remember a clue. It is doubly satisfying when this…
Tag: weather signs
What is a Gap Wind?
Whenever a wind is forced through a narrow gap it accelerates. This is true of all fluids, gas and liquid, it is the reason we…
Animal Weather Signs in Montana
My thanks to Dean for this very interesting pair of emails from dry cow country, Montana, USA: Tristan, I’m getting to the last fifty pages…
Dew: A Sign of a Clear Skies
There are many signs within dew, but the simplest one is that you are most likely to see it after clear and cloudless skies overnight.…
The Michael Ball Show on Radio 2
It was a joy and an honour to be a guest on the legendary Michael Ball Show on Radio 2 on Sunday. If you missed…
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…
The Lost Material – Some Thoughts on Writing
Some sentences are blessed. They leap onto the page, flick their hair and then go through editing life without a care. Months later they bounce…
It’s Publication Day!
It’s publication day for The Secret World of Weather! Happy weather sign hunting!
The Wood Anemone – Anemone nermorosa
The Wood Anemone (Anemone nemorosa) is a pretty perennial wildflower of damp deciduous woodland, scrub, hedgerows and ditches. It has earned the nickname ‘windflower’, possibly…
The Warm Sign
The temperature climbed 5 degrees just before the snow started. I describe how this snow warning works – the ‘Warm Sign’ – in Chapter 9…
The First Review is In!
The first review of The Secret World of Weather is in and it’s a fun one. It’s in the Times today. “Gooley marshals a riveting…
The Clouds Map the Ground
On first glance these clouds may appear random. But they are far from it. They are making a map of the ground for us. With…
The Wind Shift Before the Weather Change
Or… The Art of Staring at Blue Skies This video is a time lapse of a couple of hours of looking out over the western…
Winter Sea Cumulus
The clouds always make a map for us. On winter mornings, the cumulus clouds map the sea. A lot more about this and the other…
Fast Recognition and Optical Illusions in Nature
Our brains are pattern-recognising machines. This is true everywhere, but not least in nature, where it honed these skills over millions of years. Bird calls,…
The Secret World of Weather
How to Read Signs in Every Cloud, Breeze, Hill, Street, Plant, Animal, and Dewdrop The weather changes as we walk around a tree or turn…
How to Gauge High Winds Using Trees
The tops of trees or other fixed objects in the middle distance make it easier to gauge the effect of the wind on clouds or…
Noctilucent Clouds
A guest blog post today, from John Pahl: If you were to ask me what my favourite cloud would be, I wouldn’t hesitate: it has…
Why is the Horizon White?
Have you noticed how the horizon is white, even on a day when the sky is a perfect blue and there isn’t a cloud in…
What are Supernumerary Rainbows?
Supernumerary rainbows are faint bow lines that appear just inside the main rainbow. Look at the rainbow above and you may just be able to…
Birds and Weather Signs
Perching birds usually face into any breeze. It stops their feathers getting ruffled, but more importantly allows them to take off quickly into wind. So…