Popular weather sayings - do they ring true?

Today is Groundhog Day, the American folklore that suggests what the weather will be like for the foreseeable future.

According to the story, if a groundhog comes out of its burrow on this day and the weather is cloudy, the spring season will come early. If the groundhog comes out and it's sunny, and sees its own shadow, it will retreat back down, and winter will continue for the next six weeks.

That's largely a US custom, but it got us thinking about our own weather customs and sayings - do they actually ring true?

Des Coleman has the details of those that do:

  • "Clear moon, frost soon."

Des says: This is for the winter months. How many times have you heard me say ‘Clear skies tonight so temperatures will dip’? It's true as clouds stop the heat that’s been put into the ground from the sun during the day from escaping. Therefore clear moon means frost is on its way.

  • "The moon and the weather may change together, but change of the moon does not change the weather."

Des says: The moon does have an effect on the earth because of its gravitational pull - the high seas for one. But the wind and rain are controlled, in essence by, the heat from the sun.

  • "The chill is on, near and far, in all the months that have an ‘R’."

Des says: Work that one out for yourselves! Is it always chilly in January, February, March, April, September, October, November and December?

Credit: ITV News.

  • "The south wind brings wet weather...the north wind, wet and cold together; the west wind always brings us rain…the east wind blows it back again."

Des says: Winds from the south are from warm continent. Winds from the north are from the artic. Winds from the west travel across the atlantic picking up moisture. And winds from the east travel over land.

  • "When windows won't open and clog the shaker, the weather favours the umbrella maker."

Credit: ITV News.

Des says: Moisture causes wood to swell making doors and windows sticky. Rain is likely, but the sodium Iodide in salt acts as an anti-clumping agent allowing the salt to flow in humid conditions. Hence, what was originally a salt slogan ‘When it rains it pours’?

  • "Whether it’s cold or whether it’s hot; we shall have weather, whether or not!"

Des says: This one is just my favourite...