Leaves turning upside down before rain
Leaves turning upside down before rain is a familiar weather sign: the pale undersides of maples, poplars and aspens flash as gusty winds ahead of a storm flip them over. A Cherokee family saying holds the same.
What it may mean
Most of the year you see a tree's leaves from one side only, the darker upper face angled to the sun. Then the wind swings around before a storm, and a whole maple or poplar flashes pale as the undersides show at once. A friend of Cherokee descent passed on her family's saying: if you see the backs of the leaves, a storm is on its way. It works because a change of breeze runs ahead of the storm itself. People can be like that too. Under the first gusts of a hard week, a side that stays hidden most days turns outward, whether a temper, a fear or an unexpected kindness.
Depending on how you saw it
Silver maples and poplars
Trees with long, flexible leaf stalks and pale undersides, such as silver maples, poplars and aspens, show the change most clearly. Which part of you moves first when conditions shift?
Minutes before a summer storm
In summer, the gust front that runs ahead of a thunderstorm often turns the trees pale minutes before the first drops fall. What tells you, a little ahead of time, that a hard conversation lies ahead?
A storm that never arrives
Leaves turn over in any strong, shifting breeze, and sometimes the rain passes somewhere else. Which of your warning signs turned out to be only wind?
Why it happens in nature
Many broadleaf trees have paler undersides and long, flexible leaf stalks. When a storm approaches, winds often strengthen and change direction, and gusts catch the leaves from an unusual angle and flip them over so the pale side faces out. Leaves turn the same way in any strong, gusty wind, so the sign is a clue rather than a forecast.
What folk beliefs say
Cherokee family tradition
A woman whose great-grandmother was Cherokee said her grandmother passed down the saying that if you see the backs of the leaves, a storm is coming.
Source: Ivan Kumamoto (collector), Some Cherokee beliefs about incoming storms (USC Digital Folklore Archive) (2015), folklore.usc.edu. View the page
To reflect on
Which side of you shows first when the pressure starts to rise?