New Thing #6--The Power of Pine

According to weather folklore, pine cones can predict the weather. They react to atmospheric changes and "open up" or "close up" more with a change in humidity. And changes in humidity can indicate a change in the weather.

Since it's supposed to rain (or snow!) in St. Louis later tonight, I wondered which would be more accurate, a pine cone or the meteorologist on the local TV station. I set up a simple weather station with a pin stuck into a dry pine cone and indicated the angle of the pin on a piece of paper behind the pine cone. This is what it looked like:

As of 6:30 p.m. the pin hasn't moved. I'll check again tomorrow morning and update the post if there are any changes.

Note: Nothing happened to the pine cone overnight, but there was no indication of snow or rain at my house either!