Current Superstitions Part 38

If the rain comes before the wind, 'T is time your topsail to take in; If the wind before the rain, You may hoist your topsail up again.

_Labrador._

WIND AND STORM.

1050. A broom falling across the doorway, or chairs set crosswise, is the sign of a storm.

_Stratham, N.H._

1051. If a cloud and wind are coming, the wind will last.

_Trinity Bay, N.F._

1052. If a cloud looks as if it had been picked by a hen, Get ready to reef your topsails then.

_Mansfield, O._

1053. Clothes hanging about the rigging will bring wind.

_Newfoundland._

1054. Blue blazes in a coal fire mean a storm.

_Eastern Ma.s.sachusetts._

1055. When wood on the fire makes a peculiar hissing noise, it is said "to tread snow," and there will soon be a storm.

_Salem, Ma.s.s._

1056. If the stove-lids get red-hot when the fire is first made, it is a sure sign of a storm of some kind.

_Cambridge, Ma.s.s._

1057. If the vessel is becalmed, throw a halfpenny overboard to buy wind.

_Harbor Grace, N.F._

1058. If the halyard lies against the mast, the wind will increase.

_Newfoundland_

1059. Sticking a knife in the mainmast produces wind.

_Conception Bay, N.F._

1060. Table-knives turning blue denote that a northeast wind is coming.

_Placentia Bay, N.F._

1061. Strange lights at sea are seen before a northeast gale.

_Newfoundland_

1062. To see Northern Lights denotes that south wind and a storm will come inside of forty-eight hours.

_Ma.s.sachusetts._

1063. If the fall "line storm" clears off warm, it signifies that storms through that fall and winter will clear away with mild weather, _i.e._, the way in which the storm closes at the autumnal equinox will rule the weather following storms until the vernal equinox storm. Then the same saying applies to the "line-storm" of March, and the spring and summer _after_ storms is foretold.

The contrary would happen if cool weather followed the line storm.

_Weathersfield, Vt._

1064. In the fall, if the sky is red in the west at sunset, a gale is coming from the northeast.

_Newfoundland._

1065. If a sky turn gray, the wind will be north.

_Newfoundland._

1066. First rise after low Foretells stronger blow.

1067. Sailors putting the end of the sheet overboard will bring wind.

Hitting it three times across the thwart stops the wind.

_Topsail Bay, N.F._

1068. The day of the month of the first snowstorm indicates the number of storms in the year.

_Eastern Ma.s.sachusetts._

1069. If the stars are remarkably clear and bright, it is likely there will be a storm the next day.

1070. Stars in a circle around the moon foretell a storm in the same number of days as there are stars.

_Maine, Ma.s.sachusetts, and New York._

1071. Stars shooting about portend wind.

_Heart's Delight, N.F._

1072. A shooting star shows that wind is coming from the direction toward which it goes.

_Conception Bay, New Harbor, N.F._

1073. If stars are in thick patches before twelve at night, it is a sign that wind will come next day from that quarter.

_Hearts Delight, Trinity Bay, N.F._

1074. For the sun to rise and go into a cloud means a storm.

_Ma.s.sachusetts._

1075. If the sun sets in a bank, the wind will be in the "western bank."

_Bay Roberts, N.F._

1076. If the bottom of the tea-kettle is white when taken from the stove, it indicates a snowstorm.

_Peabody, Ma.s.s._

1077. The sun "getting up water" denotes wind and dirty weather.

_Scilly Cove, N.F._

1078. Whistle for a breeze.

_Universal among sailors._

1079. Whistling of wind in blocks aloft is a sign of a heavy storm.

_Conception Bay, N.F._