From earliest times, hunters, shepherds, sailors, and tillers of the earth have studied the influence of the Sun, Moon and the Stars on the weather.

Accurate weather predictions have always been an important human ambition and one that for some could ensure their success or failure. The result has been the framing of a rough set of rules about the weather. Some of these observations have become proverbs; others have taken the shape of rhymes; while many have been passed down by word of mouth, as mere records of facts.