History

WEATHER SIGNS

     A book about a fishing community would not be complete without weather signs. We have added some from Lawrence Nelson, one of Bon Secour's most experienced fishermen. A sailing man learns to depend on the signs of the sky. Clear skies, clouds, winds, and even the birds are guides for him.

• Clear skies - In winter, in the daytime, when visibility is fifteen to eighteen miles, it is a sure sign of a norther.
  
  In summer with seven or eight mile visibility, be prepared for a severe change in weather. If it is dry it will become rainy, or hot, it will become cool. However, there is good visibility just after a squall, for the air is very clear often for an hour or so.

• Winds - In severe cold weather if the wind is out of the east and whips around to the south, it indicates a norther.
  
  When a hurricane approaches, the wind blows from the opposite quarter from which the actual hurricane wind will come and is accompanied by a mist of rain.

• Clouds - If clouds are low down, they indicate a variation in the wind; if they are high the wind will hold.
  
  If the low clouds are traveling in one direction, the high clouds in another, the wind driving the high clouds will prevail. In the case of hurricane, destructive wind comes from the quarter where the two winds cross.
  
  If clouds pile up in the east at sunset and the east appears as full of color as the west, it is a sign of approaching bad weather.

• Change by the bells - Nautical weather changes by the bells, that is if it is fair at noon at least two more hours of fair weather can be expected. Any break or change will not come before three o'clock.

• Birds and fish - Flocks of sea gulls circle the boats when bad weather is coming, and both gulls and fish seek harbor at the approach of a storm.
  
  If gulls and porpoises lead your boat be happy, they know that there will be plenty of fish, but if they follow look for a poor catch because they are trailing to pick up food thrown away.

     Written in 1965 by Charley and Meme Wakeford for their book �Food, Fun, and Fable.�