The Weather Rock Exposed!

The Weather Rock is a prop used to make fun of the intricate technology used to create modern weather forecasts, as well as the fact that their accuracy is still not perfect, or even good, in the eyes of some. Often there is a great deal of fanfare pertaining to the proliferation of the notion that the pilfering of the "weather rock" will result in the insurance of terrible consequences. The joke varies, but in all cases there is a large noticeable rock or similar object, often suspended from a tripod, particularly within scout camps or with related activities. A sign next to it states something like:

• If rock is wet, it is raining.
• If rock is green, it rained a while ago.
• If rock is white, it is snowing.
• If rock is shaking, there is an earthquake.
• If rock is dry, the weather is fair.
• If rock is swinging, it's windy.
• If rock is warm, the sun is out.
• If rock is not visible, it's dark outside.
• If rock is under water, there is a flood.
• If rock is gone, there is a tornado (Run!!)

The Wood Badge for the 21st Century curriculum makes good weather for the course a direct responsibility of the Weather Patrol. The Weather Patrol uses many different scientific instruments to interpret atmospheric conditions, such as insect chirps, the sweat off a duck's back, divining rods, weather socks from a nearby aerodrome, and of course, the weather rock described above. The Weather Patrol sometimes has to resort to importing canned sunshine from Florida in times of prolonged cold, wet and rainy weather. In times of extreme drought, on the other hand, case loads of Bernard's Dehydrated Water have to be reconstituted.

NASA Sent the Weather Rock to Mars

The WB Scribbler recently learned that NASA sent the weather rock, or at least a version of it, to Mars. The 2007 Phoenix Mars Lander included in its meteorological package a low-tech device called a Telltale. The Telltale is a passive wind indicator developed for the Mars lander and constructed at the Mars Simulation Laboratory at Aarhus University. Here's how NASA describes it: "The Telltale consists of a gallows arm that is mounted on the Meteorological Mast of the Lander. The active element of the instrument is an extremely lightweight Kapton tube hanging on woven Kevlar fiber. A mirror is mounted below the active part to enable better direction information. Images of the instrument will show the deflection of the Telltale due to the wind."









--WB Scribbler thanks Wiki, the Internet Encyclopedia and the NASA Mars Laboratory for the above information and pictures. We promise not to get them wet. The Scribbler wonders where the weather forecasting plaque is mounted on the Lander...