An ancient habit, freshly cumulus.
Long before weather apps, people looked up and wondered what it all meant. A few of our favourite moments from the story:
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Mesopotamia · the Babylonian era onward
Seven thousand signs
Scribes compiled Enūma Anu Enlil, a series of around 70 tablets and roughly 7,000 omens about the moon, sun, planets and weather. Storms and skies were messages for kings.
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China · Dunhuang manuscripts
Cloud divination, by name
A manuscript called Zhan yunqi shu ("Cloud Divination") sets cloud-watching within China's long tradition of reading auspicious and ominous signs.
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Late antiquity · 5th century CE
The cloud that ate the other cloud
The philosopher Damascius tells of a woman in Cilicia who prayed toward the sun and watched a cloud take the shape of a man, then a cloud-lion swallow it. It was read as an omen about a general.
Artist's impression. The lion's mane was not available for comment.
These are friendly summaries of the history, and the real story is wonderfully messy. We're enthusiasts, not academics.