Ascension : The Met Office Weather Report
Submitted by The Islander (Met Office) 07.05.2009 (Article Archived on 21.05.2009)

Statistics for the week ending Monday 4th May 2008

Met Office Ascension Island Base

The Met Office Weather Report

Statistics for the week ending Monday 4^th May 2008

	Max (Celsius)	Min (Celsius)	Rainfall (mm)
AIRHEAD	31.6	25.2	1.3
TRAVELLERS	32.5	21.2	51.3
RESIDENCY	-	-	-
GEORGETOWN	32.8	24.7	1.5
ST. HELENA	-	-	-
FALKLANDS	14.5	-0.5	33
UK (Brize Norton)	17.8	1.5	14.8

8 out of 10 cats prefer…

The family cat ‘Lemmy’ (yes, as in Motorhead), has that certain aloofness displayed by most felines, but also seems to have a strong dislike of foul weather. Indeed, anything other than a fair day will prompt hisses aimed at both the inclement conditions, and the impatient owner waiting to close the back door. Many creatures great and small illustrate awareness of the current weather conditions, and some even go as far as to show they can predict what is coming. Going back over the centuries, animals have been involved in weather folklore, and sailors and farmers in particular have long recognised links between their behaviour and the elements.

An old favourite is the chance of rain based on the number of cows resting their weary legs in a field; this is however, a myth.  Many birds can give a more reliable forecast. Swifts and Swallows are known to fly lower in spells of bad weather, and sea gulls will often fly inland. The Robin is known to sit on lower branches and sing a more subdued song when rain is on the way. In the sea, dolphins will often swim to sheltered bays during storms, while in lakes, fish may jump the surface to take advantage of lower flying insects. On a smaller scale, bees will stay close to their hives in wet conditions, and spiders will sometimes abandon webs before rain commences. Crickets are quite excellent judges of temperature; a count of the number of chirps in 14 seconds, plus 40 will give the temperature in Fahrenheit. Obviously, the hotter the climate, the faster the chirp, so if you want to try this out here, you’ll have to be very quick!

Back to mammals; cats will find that during periods of dry weather and low humidity, static electricity builds on their fur. Sufficient charge can build up to produce small sparks when you stroke the cat, and this can be quite irksome for the pet, the aforementioned Lemmy included. 

To finish, here are some weather sayings from the animal kingdom. Do they make any sense?

1. If birds fly low, expect a blow.

2. The greedy fox heralds a crystal sky.

3. When chickens scratch together, there’ll be some foul weather.

Now, on to this week’s forecast; where did I put that box of crickets?