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Weather
Lore
I have
had many letters and e-mails regarding last month's topic on weather
lore. It is clear that many of you have more than a passing interest
in this, and would like explanations of some of the more common
sayings and beliefs.
Seaweed
and Pine cones
It
is widely thought that these can give us an indication of whether
it is going to rain or not.
Seaweed
can turn moist and swell when there is moisture in the air. This
is probably due to the salt which will be on its surface, making
it hygroscopic - meaning it becomes an absorber of water.
Ahead
of a weather front the humidity of the air can increase, explaining
why the seaweed becomes moist. However air humidity can change for
other reasons, so this is an unreliable indicator of rain.
Pine
cones can similarly change when the humidity of air rises or falls.
If
the moisture content of the air rises, the pine cone absorbs this
and effectively expands - explaining why the pine cone can close
up. If the humidity of the air is dry, the pine cone can open up.
But
this only shows that the pine cone is reacting to events that are
happening and this again is a very poor indicator of changing weather
conditions.
If
you would like any more explanations of old weather sayings, feel
free to contact me at look.north@bbc.co.uk
February's
weather
February
turned out to be much drier and sunnier than normal for all parts
of the region as high pressure across the near continent dominated
our weather which saw 11 consecutive frosts between the 13th and
the 23rd of the month.
Only
32mm of rain was recorded (Long term average 63mm), 10mm of which
fell on the last day of the month. If it hadn't been for this February
2003 would have turned out to be one of the driest for many years.
It
was much sunnier than normal, with 88 hours of sunshine recorded
(LTA 57hrs), and colder than normal, with average temperatures around
1 deg c lower than normal.
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February saw 88 hours of sunshine
