Weather

Most people know the expression 'Red sky at night - shepherd's delight. Red sky in the morning - shepherd's warning', or that a 'mackerel sky' is the sign of an oncoming storm.

But in the modern era of satellite imaging and meteorologists who can predict weather patterns over the coming weeks and even months, how much credence can be put in these old sayings?

Martin Corzier from the Guernsey Met Department said that some of these sayings do indeed hold up as predictors of weather conditions coming within the next day.

A mackerel sky over Herm

He told us that the 'mackerel sky' is "good predictor" as it is a sign of certain atmospheric conditions that will lead to a storm.

He also said that there is often truth behind the 'red sky at night' saying, but that it is not always reliable.

Martin said: "It is to do with weather fronts and if there is a red sky in the evening there is a good chance that the front will have passed by morning so it will be a nice day... but the system is not infallible".

In Martin's opinion the most reliable traditional weather predictor is the halo around the moon. The theory is that if there is a halo around the moon the weather will become stormy, and he said this is true as the halo is caused by a build up of ice crystals in the air which happens ahead of stormy weather.

Do you know any weather predicting sayings that are specific to the Bailiwick? One listener suggested that if Sark or Jersey are very clearly visible then that means bad weather is coming, but do you know any others?