Rain Signs. How The Old Timers Forecast The Weather.

Growing up in the desert Southwest, along the Mexican border, rain was something often wished for but seldom seen. Ranchers in that area were always hoping for a good year, one with above average rainfall.
When that one good year in ten came it set the standard for how all other years were to be judged. The optimist in these hardy folks led them to believe, against all scientific evidence, that the Southwestern United States should have good years like that every year.
Every old timer had some story about weather prediction and how rain could be forecast. There was the one about a rattlesnake crossing the road. No, there isn't a joke coming. Many old ranchers in places like Southwest Texas believe that if a rattlesnake is killed by being run over by a car, and the snake's body turns belly up in the road, it is going to rain.
I never was on the bandwagon with that one, even if it might be true. I can imagine that if a penny was lying there in the road instead of a snake, and if fifty percent of the people noticed it was heads and it happened to rain the next day, some kind of weather prediction legend might get started around pennies in the road.
One rain sign that I do believe in is them movement of the desert tortoise. The desert tortoise often migrates to a higher elevation just before a rain comes. I have noticed this many times. I believe that somehow it can sense minute changes in barometric pressure and begin moving long before the rain comes.
Thus, as the old story goes, if you see a desert tortoise crossing the road toward the higher side of the surrounding countryside, it is going to rain soon.
Another sure fire rain sign is encountering scorpions inside the home. Scorpions are plentiful throughout the desert southwest and occasionally they will come inside a dwelling but they are much more likely to be seen a day or two before a storm. Again I believe barometric pressure may be their cue.
Lastly, there is the mysterious rain crow. The rain crow is a rare bird indeed. Many old timers claim that a certain bird called a rain crow can be heard a day or two before it rains. I must admit I have noticed this phenomenon, after it was pointed out by an elderly rancher near the town of Cotulla. There are several opinions about what bird this actually is. The prevailing one of most birders is that it is a bird called the Yellow Billed Cuckoo.
So, if these rain signs sound a bit cuckoo to the average person try and imagine the desperation for life giving rains they were borne from.
In an age when we know more or less what the weather will be like a week from now it is hard to imagine how important it was to have something, anything, however flawed to help predict what mother nature had in store for you.