It's an old mariners sign. Weather is crucial to navigating, even today. Back when, there was a deeper connection with the skies, especially ideally pitched aboard a wave on a ship in the ocean. No city lights there.
Those that have survived are usually among the most credible. But they were not the exclusive domain of mariners. I learned many of the weather signs my family lines used in the hills of Tennessee and Arkansas traced by in some instances to various parts of Europe, from Mom and Dad, brothers and sister, and aunts and uncles (aplenty). A good measure of my kin are Native to America--Cherokee, Quapaw, and Osage I am told.
An interesting side-note is that those weather signs held in common from those originating on two continents often are very similar, as are such things as constellations observed anciently on multiple continents. A ring around the moon is a pretty reliable predictor of storms involving rain or snow. I had forgotten how it worked, but i went online to gain a concensus. By using hte basic adage,
"A ring around the Moon,
Storm [or rain, or snow] by noon.
you can then fine tune it by observing the number of stars showing through the ring, and add that many 24 hour increments.
So, as I walked pooch last night, I couldn't help observe the distinct ring around the moon. It was made even more interesting by a high-flying mares-tail clouds moving horizontally through the ring at a pace that made high winds aloft readily apparent. It was very still below. I often have a small digital camera with me, but for whatever reason, I did not last night. It usually takes something bold to catch my interest enough to get me to retrieve my camera and come back out that late at night but it happens.
By the time I had finished walking Biggin to the mailbox and back, the ring was less defined. The high cirrus clouds had already flown past but Jupiter was still bright. With my automatic/optionally manual digitabl Sony camera, I chose the Twightlight Mode, which requires the steadiness of a tripod. I manually opened the lens two full stops using the EV (Exposure Value) control. I zoomed out sufficiently to get the entire ring, selected the longest of the two self-portrait delays--eight seconds. I then pushed the shutter button and lay the camera with the back of the camera down onto my driveway about fifty feet from the house.
We live in the country, so there is no light pollution except that coming from my own house--a reason why I chose a place that far from the house. Another is so that the wide angle position that i had chosen would not be obscured by the house. With the camera lens facing straight up I was able to get a perfectly panoramic view of the ring, Jupiter, and the Moon. It only took one shot--a rarity for me. I advocate taking lots of images in order to have a good choice of settings. But I was happy with the first and only image that I shot.
I came in and showed my wife and made a note to share the experience, and the resulting image in a post today. By-the-way, if you count Jupiter as a star within the ring, which surely the ancients did, there should be a storm tomorrow--two days after the weather-predicting sign was observed. I am banking on it, although the weatherman on TV tonight was not sure when it would happen. He DID announce the Tornado Warnings across the river in Arkansas for tomorrow. The meteorologist was hedging his bets.
Note the bright "star" inside the ring is Jupiter. Add 24 hours for each star seen through the vapor filter to the base 24 hours while forcasting the time of impending rain or snow.