ONION: How wet will the new year be? With an onion and some salt, a fairly accurate measurement of moisture can be made for each month.
On New Year’s Eve, cut a round onion in half lengthwise. Remove the outermost six layers from each half and separate them into 12 sections. Top each one with a teaspoon of salt.
How each onion slice reacts overnight will tell you how wet or dry each month will be.
According to Atlas Obscura, onion pieces left with dry salt meant a dry month, while a pool of briny liquid meant a month of heavy rain or snow. Caked or crusty salt was an indicator of frost, and bubbles indicated humidity.
Does it work?
Well, the practice has been around since the Middle Ages and many towns, like Urbania, Italy, still use it today. However, it isn’t done on New Year’s Eve — it’s done on Jan. 24, the eve of the Conversion of St. Paul.
There are other natural prognosticators out there, and we aren’t referring to the groundhog in Punxsutawney. When humidity increases, the scales of a pine cone close to protect the seeds and pollen inside. This is because the scales absorb moisture from the environment and expand. Closed pine cones may indicate that rain is coming.
In the South, some folks cut open a persimmon seed in the fall to predict the weather. A spoon shape inside is said to mean snow, a knife shape means a bitter cold winter, and a fork shape means mild weather.
There’s no scientific basis that upholds the folklore, but word-of-mouth says it is fairly accurate by region. We’re not sure if that means where the persimmon is grown or sold. Hmm.
