Red Sky
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"Red sky in morning, sailor's warning. Red sky at night, a sailor's delight," That is probably one of the best known and repeated weather maxims. But do today's commercial fishermen pay any heed to such traditional ways of forecasting the weather?

I'm Bryan Yeaton for the Weather Notebook. As correspondent Jessica Lockhart reports, some fisherman in Maine combine new technology with the tried and true ways of reading the sky for upcoming weather.

Red sky at night, sailor's delight is a contender for the best known weather maxim. But do today's commercial fishermen pay any heed to such traditional ways of forecasting the weather?

"I see red skies and sometimes it's rough, and sometimes it's nice in the morning"

That's Chris Ireland, on board the fishing vessel Evangeline Trail in Portland, Maine. He and his skipper, George Amarantides say they rely on NOAA.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's weather forecast is what virtually all commercial fishermen say they depend on -- at least mostly. Skipper George Amarantides.

"Sometimes they are correct; sometimes they forecast for 5 foot seas, and it might be 3 foot seas."

But the old ways are not all forgotten. Hank Johnson, shore captain of fishing vessel Bethany Jean who has been going to sea since age nine, says a few fishermen still judge weather by the skies:

"High wisps, gives you high velocity in the wind up above when you get what they call mare's tails, and a mackerel sky is usually good weather the next day. Sun dogs, which is a glow around the sun, halo around the moon, that's all indications of a fore- coming bad weather."

And for those of you who aren't sure what a mackerel sky looks like:

"It looks like the side of a mackerel. It's sort of white and dark waves."

The Weather Notebook is a production of the Mount Washington Observatory and is supported by Subaru.