Brainstorm Answer: Weatherstick Ask Dave a weather question

Dave Thurlow, Host

 
Do weathersticks really work and if so, how? That's the Weather Notebook brainstorm. Hi, I'm Dave Thurlow. A weatherstick is a former tree branch that is supposed to bend up when fair weather is approaching, and down when foul weather is heading in. Earlier I asked if this works? Kristin Burnham, a listener of KDUR in Durango, CO thinks so:

Kristin: "Growing up in Massachusetts, we had a weatherstick on the side of our house and the trick with those is the weatherstick bends with the humidity content in the air, the drier the air, the stick will curve upward. The more moist the air, the stick will curve downward."

Kristin's right. The wood is simply reacting to humidity. But she didn't stop there.

Kristin: "And the reason that works is actually the stick is cut from the tree and its hung on your house upside down from the way that it actually grows on the tree."

Again, right on the mark. The weathersticks are actually hung opposite of the way that the not-yet-harvested weathersticks (also called branches) grow on the tree. Steve White, who makes weathersticks for Maineline Products in Lock Mills, ME, explains why:

Steve: "If you watch trees in the woods, you find that in dry weather the trees will seem to shut down and droop their branches to seem to conserve moisture. When a storm is approaching, they'll lift their branches up so that they can absorb moisture through their needles."

So weather sticks are thin branches cut from a tree, striped of bark, turned upside down and nailed to the side of the house. The stick then points up in fine weather, the reverse of what it does on the tree. Does it work?

Steve: "Well, I'll tell you, there are a lot of our customers who say they're going to send one to their weatherman because they think the stick works better than he does."

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