Red Sky At Night Trivia Quiz

Answer: Warning

This is one old saying that does have some truth to it. A deep red sky around the sun as it sets usually comes during a spell of dry and settled weather. A red sky as the sun rises though often means that the sun is lighting up clouds that are building up, which could lead to rain later.

Answer: North

In the northern hemisphere a north wind is usually coming from the Arctic, and often does bring snow with it. It doesn't always bring snow, but it is always a cold wind. Southerly winds are coming from the continent, often all the way from Africa so tend to be warm. East winds can also bring snow as they often come all the way from Russia. West winds more often bring in rain, but do sometimes blow in snowstorms as well.

Answer: Long and cold

According to folklore, in the English countryside a lot of berries means that we are in for a long cold winter. The theory behind this is that the trees and bushes are providing a lot of food for the birds to get them through winter. In fact there is no real truth to this.

The number of berries on bushes depends on how well they flowered in spring and how good conditions were for berry retention during the summer months. A long hot summer often leads to less berries as drought stricken bushes drop leaves and berries to conserve water in order to survive.

Answer: Rain

Swallows eat insects, so they fly at the same height as their food. In dry, clear weather the insects can fly high, but when the atmosphere is damp because rain is on the way the insects are forced to fly much lower. The swallows are therefore also flying lower in order to catch them.

Although not entirely accurate, seeing low flying swallows can often be an indication of rain on the way.

Answer: The temperature

This one is actually true. If you count the number of times a cricket chirps in a fourteen second period and add forty you will have the air temperature in degrees Fahrenheit to within one degree around 75% of the time. Why this is no-one knows.

If you think about it, you already know if it is wet or windy, you don't need anything but normal observation to tell you that.

Answer: Rain

There is some truth in this. Research done in America has shown that cows stand up and move around more when it is hot, but lie down and conserve energy when it is cold. As the temperature often drops just before it rains then a group of cows lying down certainly means it is getting colder, and could rain.

It is only an indication though, and as quite often you can see a herd of cows with some standing and some lying down, I wouldn't put on your mackintosh and take your umbrella purely because of it.

Answer: Mackerel

It's called a mackerel sky because the cloud pattern is thought to resemble the pattern of fish scales. It is usually seen during a period of quickly changeable weather. It can be raining one minute and within an hour be bright sunshine, so there is a degree of truth in the old saying.

Answer: More rain

If you see a rainbow in the morning, then, in the northern hemisphere, it will be in the west with the sun shining from the east. As most weather patterns in this hemisphere move from west to east, then the raindrops being lit up by the sun to form the rainbow will be moving towards us. If you see a rainbow in the east in the evening with the sun shining from the west then the rain has moved away from us, so the rainbow then is a sign the rain is over, at least for a while.

Answer: If it will rain

There is some truth in this. In hot, settled weather the seaweed will dry out and be quite brittle. When there is damp in the atmosphere, as there often is before it rains, the seaweed will take in the damp and will feel wet. It is not entirely accurate though, as a heavy dew overnight can make the seaweed damp for a short while even though it is not going to rain.

This is another old piece of folklore.

Answer: Soak

This refers to when the oak and ash trees get their leaves in the spring. According to the saying, if the oak leaves come first then we will have very little rain during summer, but if the ash leaves come first summer will be wet.
There is no truth in this. Observation of the trees over decades shows that oak leaves are first to show most of the time, and this bears no relationship to the type of summer we have.