Predicting the weather

Weather, in a country that has such a lot of it, seems to be a bit of an obsession. What’s more, it often involves a rhyme or saying. “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb”, basically means March starts off cold and stormy but turns to spring at the end.  Or the truism “April showers bring forth May flowers” – while we may dislike the April rains, they produce beautiful vegetation and help put bread on the table.

Some weather sayings have always confused me, “The Oak before the Ash we are in for a splash, but the Ash before the Oak we are in for a soak.”  It seems to me either way we get wet!  My Grandmother’s favourite weather saying was “If there was enough blue to make a sailor suit, we would have sun”. I spent many a rainy day looking for a sailor’s suit in the sky, but it always kept raining!

“Red sky at night shepherd’s delight, red sky in the morning shepherd’s warning”, at least has some scientific backing. A red evening sky occurs when sunlight shines through high concentrations of dust particles, indicating high pressure and dry weather ahead. Conversely, if there’s high water content in the atmosphere as the sun rises, light is scattered and appears red, suggesting rain is coming.

This is backed up in the Bible. In Matthew ch16 Jesus says, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times”. 

We spend our lives trying to predict the weather, yet often fail to spot the clear signs in this mixed-up world which point towards Jesus’ return.  It’s all mapped out for us – we just need to stop and read.  Jesus is coming, ready of not!

Useful passage to look up: 2 Timothy ch3 v1-9