WEATHER FOLKLORE: "When the glass falls low, Prepare for a blow; When the glass is high, Let your kites fly." APPLICABILITY: Mid-latitudes mainly. Very relevant to fall and spring. ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION: The glass refers to a mercury barometer. When pressure is low the mercury level will be low. Wind speeds pick up when low pressure systems are close by. The wind near strong cold fronts and low pressures will be too high for kite flying. When the pressure is low the weather is more likely to be stormy. When the mercury level is high there will be high pressure over the region. High pressure tends to bring fair skies and nice weather. PITFALLS: Sometimes the winds are too light when high pressure weather occurs. This would make kite flying difficult. The pressure is not a perfect correlation to the weather. Rainy and stormy weather can occur with high pressure (such as an upper level disturbance overriding surface high pressure or airmass summer afternoon thunderstorms). Many times the low pressure will not have enough moisture to produce precipitation. In these cases, kites will do great if the wind is not too strong. |