How to Predict the Weather With Coffee
For today’s forecast — the weather will be sunny with a side of coffee! Be sure to pack a spoon to stir those bubbles and start checking the weather, using your coffee.
For something that cannot be controlled on any level, we seem to plan our days around the weather pretty intently. The outfits that we wear and the social activities that we plan always rely on the weather; “can I wear these shoes or do I need rain boots?" “will this material become uncomfortable in the rain?” “will I be able to go golfing on Sunday?” Sounds like you? These are all questions we find ourselves asking constantly, all based on the weather.
We have newspapers, radio channels, and weather apps all to tell the weather. But what if there was a way for us to tell the weather without channeling our inner meteorologists, after all we can’t all know how to predict the weather based on looking at the clouds. Luckily there is a way to tell the weather without relying on any barometers to do so, and simply looking at the cup of coffee that we are already drinking!
Instead of just drinking your cup of coffee to enjoy it, from now on look into your cup for the weather as if it were a barometer!
Barometer
What is a barometer? Invented by Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), an Italian astronomer who is known as the “father of observational astronomy,” the barometer is a scientific instrument that helps meteorologists forecast the forthcoming weather.
This instrument was designed to measure the air pressure levels in a particular environment. As the levels in air pressure change based on the weather, the barometer begins to shift as it starts reporting the change in air pressure — or the change in weather.
How do barometers work?
When there are different levels in the air pressure, the weather will begin to change (ranging from storm to bright blue skies). The lower the air pressure, the worse the weather will be predicted. High pressure is a good sign that nice weather will follow shortly. Since the barometers work based on air pressure, they can only predict the weather for a specific time range ahead; they cannot predict the weather for a day that will occur in 3 months time.
Because the barometer is such an important invention in terms of modern-day science, there are many different forms of barometers, all used to give an accurate representation of the foresee-able future. Such forms include water-based, mercury-based, vacuum pump oil, aneroid, and electro mechanical barometers. All measure air pressure in different ways and can forecast the weather.
No matter the form of the actual instrument, the air pressure levels are the key parts in determining the weather, both currently and in a couple of days time as well. Barometers are what help us know when there is bad weather coming or if we can expect to enjoy the sunny outdoors.
HOW TO PREDICT THE WEATHER USING COFFEE?
In today’s day and age there is no need for us to struggle as we try to understand how barometers work, we just want to know if we need an umbrella or not!
Fortunately, we have many forms of telling the weather that far easier than reading a scientific device. With the help of smart phones each and every person can now carry their own personal ‘barometer’ in their pocket, and not have to rely on some astrologist on the local news to tell us what the weather will be this afternoon.
There is nothing that can beat quickly opening your phone and seeing the weather in an instant...
In fact, there is! It is actually possible to forecast the weather by simply looking at your coffee. It’s already in your hands all the time, you might as well use it to predict the weather as well.
Coffee? It sounds so bizarre! How can you tell the weather with coffee?? As much as it seems unlikely, you can actually predict the weather by looking at the bubbles that your coffee makes. Those bubbles are able to show you the outdoor air pressure, thus allowing you to know what the weather will be.
The logic behind predicting the weather with coffee
In the simplest of terms, the bubbles from the coffee listen to the air pressure outside. The bubbles gravitate towards the pressure and if it is high, they will form in the center of our cup, indicating what we can call beautiful weather.
If the air pressure is low there is no place for the bubbles to gravitate towards, so they loosely scattered around the coffee cup. If the air pressure is more neutral than either high or low, the coffee bubbles will switch between the ends, predicting the weather to have a little of the bad weather and then followed by sunshine and calm weather.
Tips to using coffee as a barometer
- If the bubbles are in the center of cup - nice weather.
- If the bubbles form a circle around the coffee almost immediately - get your rain boots out as bad weather is coming.
- No bubbles at all? Not a problem! Simply add more coffee and stir.
High pressure = nice weather (sunshine)
Low pressure = bad weather (clouds, rain, and/or snow)
CAN YOU DO IT WITH INSTANT COFFEE?
Most definitely! The only requirement there is to predict the weather using coffee is a strong brew, in fact the stronger the better!
In order for this coffee trick to work you must have strong coffee as weak coffees will not be able to mask the strength of the air pressure and predict what will occur. The plus side to using instant coffee is that if you do not see bubbles form, you can always add more coffee to make sure you get that extra bit of foam.
By using store-bought coffee from your local coffee shop, it would not only be hard to see the bubbles as the cup is given to you already closed with a lid, but if there are no bubbles at all you cannot simply add more coffee.
With instant coffee you can predict the weather for the day without even leaving your house, or still know the weather while your phone is charging.
WHY SHOULD I PREDICT THE WEATHER WITH COFFEE?
Why not?! Weather and coffee both play equal parts in our daily lives! We find ourselves rerouting our days around them constantly. So why not have a fun way to incorporate both together!
Predicting the weather with coffee will give you a sense of why meteorologists love their jobs and what they do. It’s more than just looking at a map and reading a TelePrompTer, you actually need to understand what you are saying. With coffee, you are starting your day off in a fun manner and not simply following a routine.
Another plus to predicting the weather with coffee is that it is great for outdoor activities such as camping. Up in the mountains you don’t always have cell service to check what the local weather is for that day, if you have a cell phone with you at all. While you are up there camping out, you need to be prepared for all types of weather that are to come.
Most likely you will make sure to have coffee with you on your trip (there’s no way you can make it without it!), so that coffee can be easily used to let you know if you should take shelter or not. Just a quick glance at the bubbles in your coffee tumbler will let you know what type of weather lays ahead. Hopefully you’ll only see bubbles in the center of the coffee. Happy camping!
