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Tales from Exit 22 by Al Batt

I’ve never seen it rain cats and dogs, but it’s going to rain when I see the Johnson’s yellow dog chasing the Holland’s black cat.

If you don’t know the Johnsons or the Hollands, never mind.

My family elders were fond of saying, “The best thing to do when it’s raining is to let it rain.”

There are two kinds of rainfall: too little and too much. The oceans hold 97% of the total water on the planet and 78% of global precipitation occurs over the oceans.

Most of us predict rain by listening to a meteorologist or watching a neighbor wash his car. Some of us know enough to come in out of the rain.

My father placed his trust in a bird commonly called the rain crow, which isn’t a crow, but is a yellow-billed cuckoo, which is a watchful, furtive and retiring bird with a distinctive hollow, wooden call that sounds like this, depending on which ear you are using: ka-ka-ka-ka-kow-kow-kow-kow-kowlp-kowlp-kowlp. The call ends with a gulping sound. Dad believed that call ushered in rain. The more it called, the more likely it would rain. A rain crow does call more on cloudy days, although its weather predictions may not be trustworthy. It’s a rain crow, not The Weather Channel crow. It’s heard both before and during storms, and sometimes during thunder.

Those suffering from rheumatism or a history of broken bones often feel pain or greater discomfort before a rain.

“When dew is on the grass, rain will never come to pass. When grass is dry at morning light, look for rain before the night.”

Birds flying low, expect rain.

Flowers smell best just before it rains. A flower’s scent is strongest just before a rain because aromas spread more when there is moisture in the air. Plants like dandelions and tulips close their flowers when rain is approaching.

Oak or maple tree leaves curl in the high humidity preceding rain.

When faraway sounds seem clearer, it’s going to rain. The U.S. National Weather Service says you can find out how far you are from lightning by simple reckoning. It takes the sound of thunder about 5 seconds to travel a mile. If you count the number of seconds between the flash of lightning and the sound of thunder, and then divide by 5, you’ll get the distance in miles to the lightning: 5 seconds = 1 mile, 15 seconds = 3 miles and 0 seconds = too close. We could use words as placeholders to count seconds, such as, “One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi…”

“Rain before 7, clear before 11” is based on the idea that if it’s raining at 7 a.m., it has been raining all night and the storm is on its way out before 11 a.m.
If cats wash behind their ears, sneeze, snore or open an umbrella, it’s sure to rain.

A sunny shower won’t last an hour.

Fish bite more at the water’s surface and jump more frequently when rain is coming. When rain is imminent, low-pressure systems occur and cause plant particles trapped at the bottom of a lake to rise. When this happens, microscopic organisms are dispersed in the water and provide feed for small fish. The small fish become food for larger fish, and this causes fish to increase their leaping activity.

A halo around the sun or moon is said to indicate rain. A reddish sun has water in its eye; before long you won’t be dry.

The louder the frog, the more the rain.

Flies become sticky before a rain. It’s not because they’ve encountered flypaper, but that could be the case. Before a rain, ants are busy, gnats bite, crickets become livelier, spiders leave their webs, butterflies seek shelter (often under leaves) and flies gather in houses.

A wind from the south has rain in its mouth.

It’s easier to forecast rain that has already fallen. If you take your goldfish for a walk, it has rained. If the weather stone in your yard is wet, it has rained.

Roger Miller, who sang “King of the Road” and “Dang Me,” said something like this, “Some people walk in the rain. Others just get wet.”

Roger Miller was as right as rain.

Al Batt’s columns appear in the Tribune every Wednesday.