Weather forecasting by rural folks

(Conclusion)

Carabaos sneeze; calves become uneasy; and native pigs gather their litters. Because they could feel the high humidity, frogs croak more before a storm and hide their eggs masses. Chickens perk under the shade at noon or they seem like taking a bath with dust.

Ilocos Norte rural folks also observe that before the occurrence of bad weather, shrimps, crabs and goby (bunog) migrate from springs to creeks or seemingly jump out of the water. Female crabs and bog are also observed to migrate from rivers to brackish water, while crabs crawl out of the water to riverbanks.

Plants are also observed to react to changes in weather. For instance, fruits of bangkal, physic nut (tawwa-tawwa), siniguelas, bignai and duhat ripen and rot faster at the onset of the rainy season.

People residing near rivers observe that moss grow abundantly when bad weather approaches.

Those residing near the sea likewise observe that changes and irregularities in the behavior of the sea indicate an incoming bad weather or an atmoshperic disturbance occurring at a distance. For example, evaporation of seawater is visible. Intense thunderstorm is heard from a distance in the sea. The sea roars, high or giant sea waves are seen, the sky above the western part of the sea is cloudy, and winds tend to come from the north.

Galacgac and Balisacan explained that since tropical storm begins as a low pressure center over an ocean or a large body of water with strong circulating winds, giant waves and phenomenal seas whipped up by violent winds that spiral around the storm’s center are brought to distant shores.

The weather-wise folks also foretell the presence of a distant storm or an incoming rain through the appearance of the clouds. For instance, cirrus clouds or ariwanas, long parallel band of feathery clouds, appear in the sky and the clouds near the sun appear reddish during sunrise and sunset. When clouds block the sun during sunrise, the sun can be seen dimly as if one is looking through a ground glass.

Rural people also observe that it is going to rain after a few hours when it is cloudy at the east.

They pointed out that if the clouds are converging towards a point in the horizon, a storm is present in that direction. Actually, the clouds are coming out from the top of a distant storm. The MMSU researcher explained that the low pressure at the center of a storm whips up the surface winds to spiral violently toward its center. Above the storm the winds come out or diverge its low-pressure center.

Experts point out that if the sky is grayish, feathery Cirrus clouds thicken and spread, and the sky will now look as if covered by a thin negulous veil.

Still, the rural folks take the appearance of moon to forecast weather. According to them, bad weather usually follows in a day or two after a luminous ring (lunar corona) around is seen around the moon on a cloudy moonlit night. They said that when the diameter of the corona is small, a storm is near. However, when the diameter is larger than usual, a weather disturbance is far away from the locality.

According to experts, a cloud of water droplets produces a corona as a result of diffraction.

The Ilocos Norte rural folk rely much on these weather lores because their repeated experiences have proven their accuracy.