Weather sayings
What does “mackerel sky and mares’ tails” mean?
A sky of small, rippled clouds that look like fish scales (“mackerel sky”), often with long wispy streaks (“mares’ tails”). The full saying adds that they “make tall ships carry low sails”, meaning wind is on its way.
“Mackerel sky this morning. I’d give it until tomorrow before the rain.”
Get roasted by your own forecastFree, no account, and you pick how rude I get.
Where it comes from
Sailors’ weather lore, from the days when reading the sky was the forecast.
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Is it true?
Often. Those clouds are high cirrocumulus and cirrus, which can run ahead of an approaching warm front, so rain and wind sometimes follow within a day or so. Not always: they also drift through on fine days.
What I think of “mackerel sky and mares’ tails”
A mackerel sky: the sky dressed up as a fish to tell you it might rain.
Mackerel sky, mares’ tails, and me, saying the same thing with fewer animals.
Mackerel sky: proof that even the clouds overthink it.
More weather sayings
Sources: Sailors’ lore; standard meteorology on cirrus and cirrocumulus ahead of warm fronts.