Can non-human animals predict the weather? Well, Punxsutawney Phil certainly gives it a go. He’s the groundhog who every February 2 pops his head out to check the weather. Supposedly, if he sees his shadow when he peeks out, he’ll be frightened and rush back inside. That means there’ll be six more weeks of winter. If it’s cloudy, and he stays out, spring is on the way. It’s a fun tradition, but no one puts away their woolies because Phil goes for a stroll on February 2.

But can animals really predict the weather?

There’s a lot of folklore about this. People say cows lie down just before it rains; cats get edgy when a storm is brewing; frogs croak longer and louder when bad weather is on the way. There’s some truth to these old stories.

Animals probably can’t predict the weather. But it’s likely they can sense it coming before we do. Many animals have much sharper hearing than humans. And some of their other senses are nothing to sneeze at, either.

When a storm is on the way the air pressure drops. Many animals, including birds, sense this and head for safety. Cats may get edgy before storms because the change in barometric pressure makes them physically uncomfortable.

Scientists in Germany tried to study whether animals can warn us of earthquakes. It turns out this is hard to study. People have definitely noticed that animals act a little strange before earthquakes. But in order to show that the strange behavior was because an earthquake was about to happen, you’d have to show that they didn’t behave this way when there was no earthquake on the way. That’s a lot of animal watching.

And there’s this: Other animals do all kinds of things we don’t understand. So it may be a while before we can say for sure how much they know about the weather. Meanwhile, if a lot of animals suddenly head for shelter, it’s probably a good idea to take the hint.

Til next time, stay curious!

Avery

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