Published June 1961 — Download PDF of the original newspaper column
From the Office of UNITED STATES SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD Room 342, Old Senate Office Building, Washington 25, D. C . Volume I -- Number 26 6-30-61 BYRD' EYE VIEW A Public Service Column by SENATOR ROBERT C. BYRD MOUNTAIN FOLK ARE FAIRLY ACCURATE WEATHER PROPHETS Mountain folk in West Virginia have been accurately predicting the weather long before scientific instruments were invented for this purpose. They have been doing this by “reading” certain “weather signs” a kind of personal method of meteorological prognostication based on years of close observations. For example, the West Virginian that decides the day is just right for cutting hay, because he observed chimney smoke rise straight up in the morning air, will not be fooled by rain. He may not be able to give a scientific reason for his prediction, but he is absolutely right. Scientifically speaking, straight rising smoke indicates dry, high atmospheric pressure -- a sky free of moisture. In the Eastern Panhandle of our State, fruit growers say, “A year of snow means fruit will grow." In effect, says the U. S. Weather Bureau, this is a fairly good long-range forecast, because relatively continuous cold will delay the blossoming of fruit trees until the danger of killing Spring frosts is over. A weather proverb related by mountain folk in many parts of the State, and which is a highly accurate observation of an atmospheric change, says: "A washboard sky means rain by and by. The Weather Bureau agrees with this ''weather sign and offers the following scientific explanation: "As a weather front, warm or cold, approaches, there will be temperature differences ahead of it. These cause conflicting currents of air, which drive through, in, and out of an existing cloud formation, having the effect of splitting the cloud to give it a washboard-like appearance." Some people can foretell rain by watching a spider. If it suddenly begins to enlarge its web, it is a fairly good indication of wet weather coming. Insects fly low in wet weather, and tend to seek shelter. Spiders instinctively know this, and when they feel an increase in the moisture content of the air, they go to work with the zeal of a gourmet preparing for a feast, and literally spin away for their dinner. Mountain folk, to the amazement of Weather Bureau scientist can listen to the chirping of a cricket at night and pretty accurately predict the following day's temperature. They do this by counting the number of chirps a cricket makes in 14 seconds, then adding 40. Seventy-five per cent of the time, the temperature thus obtained is within one degree of accuracy. Not all weather "signs" believed in by West Virginians are accorded scientific acceptance. Some, in fact, are vigorously disputed, or are shrugged off as mere superstition. For example, some of our folk claim they can predict the severity of the coming winter by the width of the brown bands on a woolly caterpillar in the Autumn. They hold that, if the bands are wide, a mild winter will follow; if they are narrow, the winter will be cold. The American Museum of Natural History, in New York City, says this is nonsense, that the size of those bands merely indicates whether the caterpillar has been eating well or not. There are studies to prove this. But West Virginians who have been "reading" caterpillars, have their own studies to back up the validity of their prognostications -- studies handed down from father to son for many, many generations. -- 30 --