What Can Be Learned From Folklore Climatology

ABSTRACT

What Can Be Learned From Folklore Climatology Glen Conner Kentucky State Climatologist Emeritus Western Kentucky University Bowling Green, Kentucky

Folklore about climate is not as well known as the weather lore that includes sayings that warn of red skies in the morning for example. Weather lore is an attempt at predicting the weather over the short term of a day or so. On the other hand, climate lore does not seem to have prediction as its root purpose. Rather, it seems to be used as a marker in the seasonal cycle of temperature, one that can be anticipated over a longer term than weather lore. Climate lore is remarkable because the time required for it to be developed and tested seems to be prohibitive. Nevertheless, it exists with references to both hot and cold spells. Some of those spells have names that are known over much of the area east of the Mississippi River. The January Thaw is a name given to a particular warm spell in midwinter and is defined in the dictionary. The hot spell called Dog Days of midsummer and Indian Summer in the fall are other spells that are similarly recognized and defined. This study looked at daily temperature means over long periods of record from selected stations that with latitudinal distribution. All three of those climate events proved to be identifiable. Two other spring cold spells that are widely recognized in Kentucky were examined to see if they are also identifiable quantitatively. The qualitative data will be presented to illustrate the value of climate lore.