It is summertime in Indianapolis and once again, Hoosier eyes look skyward as they ask, “When is it gonna rain?” Recently, I stumbled across an old brochure from Morton’s salt that was handed out at the 1933-34 Chicago World’s Fair. The brochure features the logo of a little umbrella-carrying girl walking with a cardboard can of salt tucked under her arm, the salt pouring out of the spout as she walks beneath the raindrops, blissfully unaware. The brochure notes that “One-third of our weather is rainy!” and offers “100 ways to predict rain, compliments of Morton’s Salt” and closes with the familiar slogan “When it rains it pours.”
The brochure opens to a list of 100 of “Mother Nature’s Weather Signs” and notes that these “time-tested” signs of rain are not “mere superstitions” and that “back of every sign is a common-sense explanation.” “For instance, fish leap from water and birds skim close to the ground just before a rain in order to catch insects forced down by the moisture in the air. Smoke hangs low before rainy weather because [it is] held down by nature; a cow attempts to scratch its ears because flies are more troublesome when rain is approaching, and shoe strings become difficult to untie because moisture-laden air has caused them to swell.” The brochure urges its reader to “memorize as many as you can so that you can surprise your friends by accurately predicting rain even though the sun may be shining brightly.”
So here you go, get ready to amaze your friends with these 100 ways to predict rain, as seen through the eyes of Great Depression corporate America. After each assertion, simply add the dictum; “look for, expect, or followed” by rain.
When animals huddle together in open fields…when ants travel in straight lines (or are unusually active)…when the “Northern Lights” are visible in the sky…when bats cry much, or attempt to fly into the house…when more bees enter than leave the hive (every notice that bees never get caught in a shower?)…when distant bells sound close…when birds skim close to the ground…when boiling water evaporates more rapidly than usual…when dead branches fall to the ground in calm weather…when bubbles rise from marshy ground or appear on pools of stagnant water…
There is almost always a calm before a rainstorm…Camphor gum dissolved in a bottle of alcohol forms feathery crystals before a rain (Camphor gum was a farmhouse staple back in the day with many uses)…when canaries dress (oil) their feathers, or are wakeful at night…when cats sneeze, lie with their heads on the floor, or wipe themselves behind the ears…when many centipedes are seen…when your chairs begin to creak…when chickens huddle together outside the hen house instead of going in to roost (hence the old adage, “If fowls roll in the sand, rain is at hand”) …when distant objects look close (hence the saying, “The farther the sight, the nearer the rain”)…heavy clouds in the west and cloud streamers pointing upward… when a clover contracts its leaves…
If coffee bubbles cling to the cup instead of floating in the center…when corns are more painful than usual… when cottonwood trees turn the undersides of their leaves upward…when a cow thumps its ribs, or attempts to scratch its ear, with its tail…when crabs leave the water and remain on land… when cream or milk sours during the night…an old adage states that a new (crescent) moon with horns tilting downward can’t hold water so…when crickets chirp loudly and more persistently than usual… when crows caw loudly and continuously or when a crow is seen flying alone… when curly hair becomes more unruly than usual…
When dandelions close their blossoms…complete absence of dew in the morning… when dogs eat grass or are uneasy and change position while lying down…when a donkey scratches itself against a wall…when doors stick in fair weather… when ducks quack unusually loud… when dust whirls around the street… ringing in the ears is seen as a warning… when worms appear in large numbers on the surface of the ground…a strong east wind means rain withing a day-and-a-half.
When grate fires crackle and throw sparks to a greater degree than usual…when fish jump from the water, or swim close to the surface…when oiled floors “sweat”…when flowers stay open all night (and some say when the fragrance is stronger)… when frogs assume a brownish hue and croak louder and longer…when there are two full moons in a single month…when geese are particularly noisy…when glow worms shine brighter…when goats bleat a great deal…
When a clear sky has a greenish hue…when seagulls fly inland…when a halo (or ring) encircles the moon, like the old saying states, “The bigger the ring, the nearer the rain”…when a hazy twilight appears during the summer…when horses sweat in the stable, sniff loudly and switch their tails violently…many flies in the house are a sure sign as are flies that bite harder and more often…when your joints appear to feel stiff… when burning lamps and lanterns sputter continuously…a great many meteors, or shooting stars, in one evening…when mice run about more than usual…
Three misty mornings in a row bring rain…A pale moon doth rain-a red moon doth blow-a white moon doth neither rain nor blow…when both pleasant and unpleasant odors are more pronounced than ordinary…whistling by parrots, which rarely whistle, is a good sign…whenever pigeons return slowly to roost…when pigs carry straw and litter in their mouth…when a man’s pipe smells stronger than usual…when pitchers and glasses “sweat”…A rainbow before noon means rain by nightfall…The ancient adage, “Morning red, of rain’s a sign; Red in the morning, sailor’s morning” translates today as “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight; Red sky at morning, sailors take warning”…
Rheumatic twinges frequently portend rain…Robins near houses, or singing on the ground…when a rooster crows at night hence the say, “If the cock goes crowing to bed, he’ll certainly rise with a watery head.”…when circus men find their ropes growing tighter…when a sheep turns its back to the wind…when shoe strings knot stick, knot and become difficult to untie…when smoke hangs close to the ground…when snails come out abundantly…when you notice your laundry soap beginning to sweat…Whenever soot falls down the chimney…
When sparrows begin to chirp louder than usual…when spiders desert their webs…when sponges do not dry out rapidly after using…when stars are unusually dim and dull or if there is a star very close to the moon…An “uneasy” stomach is a seen as a sign…when stoves and iron objects rust over night in fair weather…when heat comes suddenly…when the sun sends out shafts of light, sometimes called “the sun’s fingers”…a white, pale yellow or gray sunset, described in Poor Richard’s almanac as “If the sun should set in gray, the next will be a rainy day.”
When a bad tooth begins to act up…when the down of the thistle flies about when there is no wind…if many toadstools spring up overnight…if cellar walls “sweat”… when the temperature rises at night instead of falling…when washrags remain damp long after using…when far off factory or locomotive whistles sound as if they were only a short distance away…when windows become hard to open in fair weather…when woodpeckers are particularly noisy and building themselves shelter… If you have a wren house, you can tell whether or not it is going to rain by whether the birds stay in or out.
And lastly, when ordinary salt begins to lump, cake and clog the saltcellar, get ready for rain. According to Morton’s, their salt is not made this way because, “When it rains it pours.” Morton’s explanation: “Because of its unique cube shaped crystals, which tumble off one another in damp weather instead of sticking together like the flake crystals of ordinary salt…every grain is usable — there are no wasteful lumps to throw away. If you have children between 6 and 18, be sure to use the iodized variety and thus protect them from simple goiter.” Goiter is a swelling in the neck resulting from an enlarged thyroid gland. Before iodized salt hit the grocery shelves on May 1, 1924, iodine deficiency was the main cause of goiter in the U.S. and even though it has nothing to do with rain, I couldn’t resist throwing that last part in. So much information packed into such a little brochure.
Al Hunter is the author of the “Haunted Indianapolis” and co-author of the “Haunted Irvington” and “Indiana National Road” book series. His newest books are “Bumps in the Night. Stories from the Weekly View,” “Irvington Haunts. The Tour Guide,” and “The Mystery of the H.H. Holmes Collection.” Contact Al directly at Huntvault@aol.com or become a friend on Facebook.
