Weather Prediction?

I have been reading a bit online about cloud identification, I think the ability to predict weather in a survival situation would be valuable. Most of it has been just different kinds of clouds and weather fronts. I was wondering what kind of resources do you use or would you recomend?

If there is a sailing instruction school near your home, there is usually a course on weather taught there. The best weather instruction i ever had was in Sailing schools, your life can depend on knowing what will happen in the next few hours.

All I have to do is listen to my bones, I can tell 48 hours in advance of a weather change

Seriously tho...Great topic And good point, it would not be ideal to think one was ok out in the sunshine only to find themeselves in a monsoon storm 20 mins later.

Sailing school is a great place as is search and rescue training in the colder regions.

I can't think of a better schooling to teach you medium weather reading than sailing school. As far as evey saying known (ie: "red at night sailors delight...") They all were generated from sailors.

A very good post OP! I'm flagging it.

I have had some very basic training through the Royal Canadian Air Cadet program, though I have never thought of a sailing schools befor. I also think there is somtheing to be said for observing local flora and fauna. for example in a low pressure system plants release waste causing a compost smell. sighns like this can be critical for preparring for fowl weather in a survival situation.

I remember when I was a kid we learned these old "witch sayings", I can't for the life of me remember how they went exactly, but they told you the usual signs for bad weather.

Like if the bugs are flying it's likely to rain.
If the sheep all come down from the mountain then it's going be a storm, now I don't live near sheep anymore (or maybe I do, I hear weird sounds coming from our neighbor at night ) but I did see this happen once. Almost all of the farmers sheep came down and basically knocked on the door, following came the worst storm I can remember.

I used to live right next to a farmer, so there was always some animals in sight and if you paid attention to them and judged their actions accuratey then it was rather easy "predicting" the weather.

Of course it's not exact science, but the animals are so much more in tune with the earth than we are now.

Here's an article from the weather channel that has a few pointers on reading the local weather based on clouds. I wish I had taken a course in meteorology...

you can not go by the shy alone. i would suggest reading the shy and (as others have stated) read the animals. and when i say animals, i mean big and small. example would be, when you see ants give their holes a top, it will rain. it can take up to week, but it will happen. so it is better to have a little knowledge of all rather than limit your chances with only a little. with all that said, i think the sailing course is a great idea. seems logical. i believe myself to be logical. and yet i did not think of that. too bad for me i guess.
just my .02

[edit on 10-12-2008 by IamGen]

In the event of a nationwide-scale 'X' be prepared for a rapid change in weather patterns...

Human vehicle and industrial emissions at present greatly affect the shape of our local weather patterns. This has been shown by climate studies taken in the US during the grounding of all air traffic post-9/11, during the three day grounding there was enough time for high atmosphere emission levels to drop to alter the average temperature ranges by a couple of degrees

If you've seen the film '28 Days Later' There's a scene that hints at such an effect...the guy who barricades himself and daughter into the top of a residential towerblock, and lines the roof-top with buckets to collect rain for potable water, but mentions that since the virus broke out there's been no rain falling and cant understand why