Having recently checked the weather forecast and then driven three hours to go fishing with a guide out of St. Petersburg, Florida—only to be told to go home because the winds were too strong—I know that, although fishermen consult the weather forecast before setting out, they can still be stymied by the unexpected. My fishing guide was clearly looking out for my best interest when he suggested we postpone our fishing for two weeks. Spending a day on a tossing boat would have led to very few fish being caught and probably to my depositing my breakfast in the Gulf.
Weather patterns have interested me for some time, e.g. in determining how storms and other types of bad weather have influenced history. And I’ve also had to pay attention to the weather before heading out for a trip, especially a fishing trip.
This will be the first of several columns each year about weather forecasting and fishing. One of my primary sources is Pauline Halford’s “Storm Warning: The Origins of the Weather Forecast” (2004), a fascinating look at how meteorology has changed over the past 2,000 years. Another good source is Brendan McWilliams’s “Weather Eye” (1994), a compilation of some of the 2,000 daily columns he wrote about the weather for The Irish Times.
Different people rely on different sources. The ancient Greeks built a Tower of the Winds in Athens in 40 B.C. (see photo by photographer Andreas Trepte). The eight-sided tower served as a public clock and as a means of knowing what kind of weather a particular wind would bring. People would face the tower with the wind at their back. They could then find out from signs on the tower what characteristics that particular wind had and what they could anticipate while the wind blew.
Others have relied on observing the behavior of animals. Among the many Greek sayings were these: “An ass shaking its ear indicates a storm” and “If birds who do not live on water clean themselves, it indicates rain.” Even today, many believe that a herd of cows sitting in a field is a sign of rain. And many of us have said and maybe believed: “Red sun at night, sailors’ delight. Red sun in the morning, sailors take warning.”
Today we have a 24-hour-a-day Weather Channel, apps for instant updating of the weather and the Farmers’ Almanacs to help us determine what the day ahead will be like. Thank goodness for such sources, as well as the thermometer, barometer, rain gauge, wind vane, anemometer (to measure wind speed) and sling psychrometer (to measure relative humidity). They are a lot easier to consult than the entrails of animals, and most of the time they are pretty accurate.
Kevin McCarthy, the award-winning author of “South Florida Waterways” (2013 – available at amazon.com for $7), can be reached at ceyhankevin@gmail.com.