Summer Weather 2009 – Nature’s Clues

Nature is probably better at telling you what  weather to expect in the coming months than computer models. The trick is trying to pick what clues mean what! In my winter weather prediction i noted the early arrival of a bird usually found in sibera and scandinavia which signalled  a colder spell of weather than has been experienced in recent years, this was true certainly in Glasgow where a ground frost lay 24/7 for days on end and just grew thicker and thicker with night temperatures dropping to as low as -8C.

This summer, what is in store? This is the first time I’ve tried to work out summer weather probabilities. The farmers signal for the onset of summer is the Cuckoo Bird. This year in Lochranza on the Isle of Arran on the 16th of April, which 6 days earlier than last year. Last year in Sannox, the Cuckoo wasn’t heard or seen at all! This was changed this year when on the 7th of May the distinctive call was heard. The Cuckoo’s first call of the year of renowned world wide as being a sign that winter is over and that the warm summer weather is heading on its way. Does the earlier arrival of the Cuckoo signify a warmer summer? Well thats something we’ll just have to wait and see, but I’ll try and find other clues which nature can give us relating to summer weather.