Onion Calendar Predicts a Wet Year Ahead

One weather folklore that continues to accurately predict the coming year’s weather is “the onion calendar”.

Legend has it that people in China have been doing this for 3,000 years. Others say this tradition originated in Germany, but one thing is sure, wherever it started, it has been used by many people around the world for generations.

There are a few different ways people create their onion calendar, but the idea is the same. Just before midnight on New Year’s Eve, you cut a large onion in half and separate the layers (while also removing the film between layers) and place a tsp. of salt in each “onion bowl”.

The first half is laid out with the first six layers, representing January to July. And, the second half is laid out with the other potion of those six layers representing August to December.

When you wake up in the morning, some of the salt will have dissolved and created “moisture”, while other “bowls” look dry with the salt still standing in them, this represents the moisture levels for each month.

This New Year’s day, Bernice Welte did her annual Onion Calendar, and by the looks of it, this year will be a wet one!