How did our ancestors avoid storms in the past?

(Baonghean.vn) - Because there was no means of weather forecasting, our ancestors recognized signs of storms by observing nature. They summarized and drew on their experiences to leave their descendants a huge treasure of weather forecasting in general, especially experience in storm forecasting.

Our ancestors used to say: “Look at the sky, look at the earth, look at the clouds. Look at the rain, look at the sun, look at the day, look at the night” to remind their children to closely monitor the weather, a natural element that has a strong impact on human life.

Our ancestors used to say: “Look at the sky, look at the earth, look at the clouds. Look at the rain, look at the sun, look at the day, look at the night” to remind their children to closely monitor the weather. Photo: Internet

Storms are natural phenomena and dangerous natural disasters that can destroy the living environment, causing serious consequences for human life and property, especially in the fields of agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture and maritime.

Through storms, our ancestors accumulated a lot of experience to recognize and predict the formation of storms. Nowadays, with advanced technical means such as satellite cloud image analysis, scientists have proven that many of our ancestors’ experiences in observing nature with the naked eye have a scientific basis!

Because folk experiences are mainly based on changes in the state of clouds, water surface and unusual manifestations in the life activities of some creatures such as swallows, dragonflies, frogs, toads...

Experiences of observing with the naked eye such as looking at the sky at dawn, sunset, looking at trees, leaves, water surface..., for example: "Yellow clouds mean sunshine, white clouds mean wind, red clouds mean rain" (clouds here are the type of clouds that have color due to diffusion) or bamboo shoots growing into the middle of the bush, reed leaves with ridges at the tip mean a storm will happen...

In addition, the elders also summarized astronomical phenomena into verses. These experiences have been verified by modern science today, and are correct up to… ninety-nine percent! However, nowadays, the environment is being destroyed, reading culture is no longer respected, oral culture is being lost, and many natural phenomena are gradually disappearing, so the passing down of storm prevention experiences is also gradually fading away.

“Rain dragonfly” yellow-brown. Photo: Internet

In the past, in lullabies, mothers could also teach their children to recognize astronomy from the cradle: "Oh... Dragonflies fly low, it will rain/ Fly high, it will be sunny, fly medium, it will be cloudy/ My child, remember this sentence/ In the southeast, there will be lightning crossing each other, low to the sea, tomorrow there will be a storm".

There is also a folk saying: "A rainbow in the East, a rainbow in the West, even if it doesn't rain, will cause a storm". (A rainbow is a cloud rising from the East, observed early in the morning when the sun is about to rise)... Or: "A storm in the East, you can watch and run. A storm in the West, you can plow and eat". (Meaning that when the sky moves, the rain in the East will come very quickly and heavily, while when the sky moves, the rain in the West rarely comes with heavy rain".

Ancient people also observed the activities of living things to predict the weather: "When ants build walls, it will storm/When ants carry their young and run away, it will rain". BecauseAnts are social insects.Floods are very sensitive to weather changes, they find ways to hide, avoid and show it to us like the above song.

Just like ants, bees also live in colonies and are very organized. They have a good sense of the weather, so when they do not fly out to collect honey but only lurk at the entrance of the nest, it is certain that there will be a storm because they sense the danger of the storm approaching.

Coastal fishermen have a way to recognize an impending storm by observing jellyfish. When jellyfish swim ashore in unusual groups, it is a sign that storms have formed thousands of kilometers away. Today's advanced science has also proven that.

"A rainbow in the East, a rainbow in the West, even without rain, there will be storms." Illustrative photo

Based on the experience of "looking at the sky", ancient people still looked up at the vast sky to predict how the weather would develop. For example: If clouds gather into large, thin masses, in the form of large threads, spreading quickly across the sky, gradually increasing in thickness and flying low, or white clouds pile up like cotton mountains, it means there is going to be a storm.

Today, weather forecasting science has systematized the types of clouds in the sky to provide data for storm forecast analysis. The type of cloud that has the shape of a bunch of white, fine, white silk threads is often called cirrus clouds. This type of cloud sometimes curves up like a hook or sometimes stretches across the sky. When the sun is about to set, it is often pink or bright yellow.

When cirrus clouds appear, there is usually very little rain. However, in the summer, if this type of cloud appears, it can signal an upcoming storm. The thin, milky white clouds are often called cirrostratus clouds. Cirrostratus clouds sometimes look like tangled threads or have a halo around the sun or moon. When this type of cloud appears, the air pressure begins to drop, which can signal a big storm.

Storms and floods cause heavy damage to people and property. Photo: Internet

Storms are particularly dangerous phenomena, causing very strong winds that can sink ships, collapse houses, cause very heavy rains, cause serious floods, and sometimes become disasters. Every year, our country has to endure about 10 storms, of which Nghe An also suffers a few.

It is true that storm forecasting activities rely entirely on observation stations and observatories, which are not always accurate. However, our ancestors in the past relied only on astronomical observation experience to make storm forecasts, and yet they avoided many disasters caused by storms.

With this harsh natural phenomenon, it is thought that folk experience in storm forecasting should be widely disseminated because people need to be accurately warned of the storm's eye making landfall in advance in order to deploy effective preventive measures.

Peace