Irish weather is notoriously unpredictable.

It often feels like the saying ‘four seasons in one day’ relates strictly to us, every season. Despite this unavoidable fact, we never seem to have an umbrella and only the best prepared in the nation own a fully waterproof raincoat.

But before today’s radar technology and complex weather maps, us Corkonians had a cúpla tricks up our sleeves to stay in the know (or at least sound like we were in the know).

Here’s a few of the old ways from the annals of the National Folklore Collection, collected by Charles Doyle of Bottlehill, Cork. Test them out, maybe your cat has been warning you to bring in the washing all this time?

10 ancient Cork signs it’s going to rain

1. When the cat puts her back to the fire it is a sign of rain coming.

2. When the horse puts his back to the ditch it is a sign of rain.

3. Ants crawling in the ground in summer are signs of heavy rain to come.

4. Falling soot is another bad sign of weather (soot falling down from chimney on to fireplace spells rain).

5. In summer, slugs leaving dykes or ditches and crawling out on to the road is another sign of heavy rain.

6. If the hedgehog, on leaving its burrow, sees its own shadow it gets back into burrow again… rain.

7. Seeing a blue flame in the fire is a bad sign of the weather.

8. A circle or halo around the moon is a sign of rain.

9. When the sun goes down red, it’s a sign of fine weather

10. When there is a red sky in the north, it is a sign of fine weather.