Tennessee Folklore…”Locust Winter”?
A locust tree in bloom in Wilson County
One of the fun things about Tennessee weather is our different names for spring cold snaps. They go by what is blooming at the time. I may not name them all correctly, but here’s what I remember:
1) “Redbud Winter”
2) “Dogwood Winter”
3) “Locust Winter”
4) “Blackberry Winter”
and Lisa Patton’s Mom tells us there’s one more:
5) “Cotton Britches Winter”
This year, we may be having two Locust Winters…
Last weekend’s cold snap (April 23-24) was called “Locust Winter” by some since the locust trees were beginning to bloom along with the dogwoods. So what do we call this weekend’s cold snap? As far as I know, the blackberries aren’t blooming yet, so it’s not “Blackberry Winter”. I guess it’s a continuation of Locust Winter, or a second one. The good thing is, there are no rules, and there is no official source. It’s all good ol’ Tennessee fun! You won’t find it in the encyclopedia!
And guess what? I just aired this on our 10pm news, and a lady called and said it is “Snowball Winter”. I’d never heard of that one! She says snowball bushes are blooming with white “snowball looking” blooms right now.
A Day to Remember…
First, the Forecast:
Plenty of sunshine this weekend, with cool overnights and warm afternoons. I’m predicting a high temperature of 75 degrees in Nashville, with lower to middle 70’s across the midstate. Winds will be light, at less than 5 mph from the southeast, so any outdoor plans you’ve got will be just fine.
Sunset this evening is at 7:21 PM with temperatures falling quickly through the 60’s and 50’s during the evening hours. Lows early Sunday morning will bottom out in the middle 40’s, but warmth returns by the afternoon (highs tomorrow will be back in the middle 70’s).
On This Date:
Seven years sounds like plenty of time, but many Middle Tennesseans remember April 16, 1998 all too well:
Nashville is one of the few cities in the United States to have ever taken a direct hit from a tornado (Salt Lake City shares the dubious distinction).
Remember what you were doing that day?
Here are 2 great articles from CNN published the day of the severe weather:
Notice what Nashville TV station CNN relied on for pictures of the storm and damage?
And on the Opposite End of the Spectrum…
Just to prove how varied the weather is during April, consider the fact that last year on the 13th we had 4″ of snow in Dickson County, 2″ in Montgomery County, 2″ in Benton County, but 2.4″ of rain in Kingston Springs.
Nothing severe and nothing wintry for this weekend - get out and enjoy it!
Look Up Past Weather Data On Line
Want to look up facts and figures like the ones in Kevin’s entry below? How about highs, lows, precipitation, normals, records, tornado history, snow history, etc.?
Go to the climate data setion of the Nashville National Weather Service’s web site at: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ohx/climate.html
This is a fantastic page. Bookmark it. You can see what the weather was like on a certain date. Teachers can have their students look up a weather fact. Here at news 2, we couldn’t live without it!
Did You See The Ring Around The Sun Today?
Photo taken by William J. Smith at lunchtime on Monday
So what caused this beautiful phenomenon? The clouds are cirrus clouds 25-30,000 feet up in the sky, and they are composed of ice crystals. The ice crystals refract the sunlight into a round rainbow around the sun.
Sometimes when the sun is lower on the horizon, you will see a small rainbow on either side of the sun. When this happens, it is called a “sun dog”.
A ring around the sun, (and/or a ring around the moon) many times means rain the next day. However, that’s not the case this time. Our next chance for rain is Wednesday from a different system.
