USA

Above is a list of countries for which contributions have been recorded.

From: Joe, near Washington, DC. USA - Originally from Iowa, my grandfather who was a farmer and my dad, raised on the farm but moved to the city, would always say, "snowin' corn meal, it'll snow a great deal" and the other one, "snowflakes big, won't have to dig!" These hold true more often than not, even on the east coast.

NOTE. At our request Joe then forwarded an explanation of his grandfather's sayings to explain them to us who live in much warmer climates.

Of the two weather sayings, the cornmeal reference is that the snow is coming down in very fine particles, or flakes and sometimes pellets. When it does that, it is cold weather and individual flakes are freezing separately, not clumped up.

The snows that come when the temperatures are higher ( usually around freezing or above ). Then, the snowflakes tend to stick together, making semi melted clumps, sometimes as large as a small coin (penny?) and the snow seems to just drift down, sort of floating. When that occurs, usually the snow will melt quickly on the ground, no accumulation to speak of.

We just had "large snowflake" showers last week here on the east coast near Washington, DC. It was pretty and nothing at all to cause concern, except it still collects on automobile windshields for a while. The temperatures were in the 40's (Fahrenheit) and after half an hour the snow had all melted.

From: Mary, Texas, USA - Blackbirds sitting together in rows on the telephone wires, means rain is coming.
From: Carol - I was raised in Springfield Illinois and my mother always said. Thunder in February, freeze in May. Now I live in southern Missouri and I do the same thing but because of being farther south it seems to be a frost in May.
Many people from several states wrote about the wooly worm (bear?) forecasting the coming winter.
From: Sandy - In St. Paul Minnesota before a tornado, the birds and bugs become very still "go into hiding" and it becomes "abnormally quiet".
From: Peter - I live in Southern California. If there's no dew on the grass in the morning, rain will be here within 24 hours.
From: Pat - In the eastern U.S., when snowflakes are fine as corn meal, it does seem to snow a lot! Also "there's three snows after the forsythia blooms."
From: Beverly, Hartford, Wisconsin. USA
Wind from the east fish bite least, wind from the west fish bite best. Accurate? You betcha. Any season too (spring, summer, fall, winter)
From Joe, Pacific NorthWest.
Long ago an old Native Indian told me this one: "Indians know a cold Winter is coming when white man build big wood pile." From: Cole - In the state of Texas, people will not hang the wash outside when the sky has a bluish black cast, which signals a dust storm approaching.
In Tennessee greenish clouds are a sign of tornadoes or extremely strong winds.
From: Donna - I live is the state of Missouri. The persimmon seed and how they tell the weather for the coming winter. I know you can't pick them till after the first frost. You slice the seed in half (on the narrow side) and inside you will find a fork, a spoon or a knife.
From: Swan - The nut storing frantic-activity or lack thereof of the squirrels in my SE Massachusetts gardens indicate the severity of the coming winter.
From: Jeanne - Here in Northeast Pennsylvania if the local Black Bears seem to be gathering food, more than usual, it suggests a snowy winter.
From Daigle - In New England there's an old Indian saying about snow fall.
Big snow, little snow. Little snow, big snow.
Explanation: Big snow meaning large flakes, will result in little snowfall. Little snow meaning small flakes, will result in a LOT of snow!
From: Lulu in Texas - Just read some of the folklore, on your web-page - one I didn't see - "thunder before seven, rain, before eleven". Don't know if this applies to morning or evening. Anyway, we had lots of thunder, this morning, so plan to check it out - makes for a good rhyme, anyway.