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How to predict weather
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However with careful preparation and planning you are prepared to face rough and unpredictable climate conditions on your wilderness trip.
Atmospheric Pressure
Changing weather means changing air pressure.
Decreasing air pressure indicates the approach of a low pressure area, which often brings clouds and precipitation. Increasing air pressure often means that a high pressure area is approaching, bringing a fine and clear day.
If you know the changing air pressure you can learn how to predict weather. A barometer measures air pressure and is a well-known instrument to predict weather.
Nature signs
There is also nature signs of changing air pressure that can be used to forecast weather. Most of these are very obvious changes while others are of a more subtle nature.
On a fine and clear day the smoke from the camp fire rises steadily. If it starts swirling and descending, the air pressure decreases and bad weather will be expected.
As the pressure decreases, the dust particles in the air begin to settle to the ground and the air clears. Sound becomes sharper and things will smell stronger. That is why you think the air is clean and fresh, and bird songs and calls sound sharper before a rain.
Clouds
An ability to accurately read cloud formations is important when you want to understand how to predict weather. Cloudes are classified into 10 main types according to height and shape. Not all clouds bring rain, some are signs of fine weather.
A fine day (1) the clouds are white, the higher the finer. Storm clouds (2) are generally black, low, and massed in large clusters. If wet weather is approaching (3) the cloud will form a greyish veil. It is time to take shelter.
Red Sky
A red sky at either dusk or dawn is one of the most beautiful natural sign you can use to predict weather.
At dusk, a red sky indicates that next day probably will be a dry and fine day. This is due to the sun shining through dust particles being pushed ahead of a high pressure system bringing in dry air.
A red sky at dawn often means that an approaching low pressure system is bringing in a lot of moisture in the air. This is a fair indication that a storm is approaching.
Do not confuse a red sky in the morning with a red sun in the morning. If the sun itself is red and the sky is a normal color, the day will be fair. Remember the old rhyme: ”Red sky at night, sailors delight, Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.”
How animals predict the weather
Animals sense the movements in air pressure that preced all weather changes. Insect-eating birds, such as swallows, have a tendency to fly much lower to the ground right before a rain.
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