Red sky in the morning...

Red sky at night, shepherds delight

Red sky in the morning, shepherds warning

At least that's the version of the old rhyme that I know best. 

There is another one about sailors taking a red morning sky as a warning 

I found the following on here

The saying is very old and quite likely to have been passed on by word of mouth for some time before it was ever written down. There is a written version in Matthew XVIin the Wyclif Bible, from as early as 1395:

"The eeuenynge maad, ye seien, It shal be cleer, for the heuene is lijk to reed; and the morwe, To day tempest, for heuen shyneth heuy, or sorwful."

The Authorised Version gives that in a more familiar form:

"When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and louring."

There are many later citations of the saying in literature, including this from Shakespeare, in Venus & Adonis, 1593:

"Like a red morn, that ever yet betoken'd wreck to the seaman - sorrow to shepherds."

So, that's where it originated, but why?

As a matter of interest I ventured forth in nightdress and dressing gown just to capture these pictures. The temperatures were low enough for me to think it was freezing ... it certainly felt like it. 

Oh the things I do to get blogging material!