Today was supposed to be a nice sunny day in Boston, with highs in the upper 70's. As Mark Twain (a non-native New Englander, like me) once said: New England has too much weather. And this is all too true.Instead, when I woke up, I found gray skies and high humidity. When I went out, I saw what the Italians call a cielo a pecorelle. What is that? A pecora is a sheep. Therefore, a sky that looks sheepish is a fleecy sky (see photo).
The full proverb is cielo a pecorelle, acqua a catinelle. Fleecy sky, bucketfuls of water. When the sky looks like this, you can expect rain.
I've personally found that this saying is not as reliable, from the scientific, predictive viewpoint, as the previously-examined Rosso di sera bel tempo si spera. I haven't always seen a lot of rain after fleecy skies.
Meteorology is a common topic of conversation, and not only among the British. The Italians have the very well-known saying: Piove, governo ladro. It's raining, the government is crooked. In other words, let's blame the Powers That Be for everything.
Well, I'm revising this in the afternoon, and still no rain. Hmmm.
