weather

See Also: CLOUD(S), COLDNESS, ENTRANCES/EXITS, FOG, HEAT, MIST, RAIN, SUN, THUNDER AND LIGHTNING, WIND

1. The chilly, drizzly June day smelled like a basement —Marge Piercy
2. The elements are but as qualities that change forever, like all things that have known generation —Dame Edith Sitwell
3. Frost made the sunny air seem like a bright keen knife —Howard Spring
4. Humidity … dropped down over the city like a damp serge cloak —Carlos Baker
5. The humidity … slapped me in the face like a mugger’s glove —Loren D. Estleman
6. Rain and thaw took its [snow’s] place, and now the world looks about as pleasing as a wet cat —John Wainwright
7. The storm crashes like god-wars —Hayden Carruth
8. The [hot] weather clings, like a low fever you cannot shake off —Angela Carter
9. Weather … cool and gray as wash water —George Garrett
10. Weather in towns is like a skylark in a counting-house, out of place and in the way —Jerome K. Jerome
11. The weather was like a waiter with a tray —Wallace Stevens
12. The whine of wind and rattle of rain and the thunder rolling terribly loud and near overhead like a thousand beer trucks roaring over the bridge —John Dos Passos

dog days The most oppressively hot, uncomfortable, and unhealthy time of the year; the height of summer, usually calculated to be from about July 3 to August 11. These are supposedly the days when Sirius, the Dog Star, rises at the same time as the sun. The name dog days (Latin dies caniculares) derives from the ancient belief that the customary sultriness and un-wholesomeness of this season were due to the influence of the Dog Star. The origin of the name has also long been associated with the popular superstition that during this particular time of the year dogs were most apt to go mad. The term has been in use since the early 16th century.

gully washer A very heavy rainstorm, a downpour. This American colloquialism, particularly common in the Texas-Oklahoma area, was obviously coined because of the swirling rush of water through gullies during such storms. An especially violent gully washer is sometimes jocularly called a gully whomper. The expression has been figuratively extended to include a great onrush or outpouring of anything.

halcyon days See PEACE.

Hulda is making her bed An expression denoting a snowfall. In ancient German mythology Hulda is the goddess of marriage and fertility. Although this expression is of unknown origin, it is reasonable to conjecture that Hulda had a feather bed which she prepared for the delights of newlyweds and from which some plumes periodically escaped to fall to the earth as snow.

Indian summer A brief respite in the late autumn of North America, characterized by hazy, balmy weather. This expression is thought to have originated in New England, where the Indians took advantage of the unseasonably warm spell to make their final winter preparations. The term is used frequently in the northern United States and Canada, where this short reappearance of summer regularly occurs each fall.

Like other terms denoting time of year or day, Indian summer is often analogously applied to one’s life, indicating a period of renewed vigor or health amidst a stage of general decline.

Mother Carey is plucking her chickens Sailors’ slang for falling snow. In this expression, Mother Carey is derived from the Latin mater cara ‘mother dear,’ apparently a reference to the Virgin Mary. Mother Carey’s chickens is a sailor’s appellation for stormy petrels, friendly birds which warn sea voyagers of upcoming inclement weather. Thus, the expression likens fluffy, falling snow to small tufts of white feathers.

Queen’s weather Ideal weather conditions; magnificent weather occurring on a day set aside for a festival, picnic, or other outdoor activity. This expression originated from the disproportionate number of fine days which coincided with Queen Victoria’s public appearances.

rain cats and dogs To pour, to come down in torrents, to teem. This common but puzzling expression has appeared in the writing of such varied authors as Swift, Shelley, and Thackeray. The most repeated explanation relates it to the storm god Odin, often pictured with cat and dog who according to Norse mythology influenced the weather. More plausible but equally un-definitive is the theory suggesting a derivation from an obsolete French word catadoupe ‘waterfall,’ itself related to an actual waterfall of the Nile in Ethiopia.

rain pitchforks To rain hard and piercingly; to rain straight downwards, so that the rainfall appears discernible as separate streaks of water. This primarily U.S. colloquial expression, probably coined by New England farmers, sees infrequent usage today, perhaps because the implement conveying the image is no longer part of most people’s immediate experience.

three-dog night A bitterly cold night. This expression is derived from the Eskimos, who purportedly measure the cold by determining how many dogs are necessary to keep them warm during the night. Thus, a night which requires the warmth of three dogs is a frigid night indeed. Even though the temperatures in the temperate climate of the United States do not plunge nearly as low as they do in polar regions, the expression has nonetheless become a popular American colloquialism for the coldest winter nights.

weather-breeder A day of unseasonably or otherwise exceptionally magnificent weather, formerly thought to be a harbinger of an approaching storm; a daylong respite in a period of inclement weather. This expression originated in England, where the weather is predominately dank and overcast. It can thus be assumed that, since such fine days were almost invariably followed by foul weather, the English folk saw a weather-breeder as a bad omen.