1. TEXT/TRANSCRIPTION
“If my back or my knee starts aching out of nowhere, I know it’s going to rain.” That’s what I always say, and I mean it. It’s not just a guess or a coincidence, I really feel it. The ache has a different kind of weight to it, almost like pressure building in my joints. Sometimes I’ll be sitting down or walking around and suddenly my knee starts acting up, and sure enough, within a few hours the clouds roll in, the temperature drops, or it starts drizzling.
I know it sounds kind of folksy or “old-person-ish,” and maybe it is, but I’ve been saying this since I was young. I remember hearing my grandparents say things like, “My joints are flaring up, it must be a storm coming,” and I always thought it was just something older people said to be dramatic. But as I got older, I started noticing it myself, especially after I injured my back a few years ago. The pain doesn’t always show up from strain or use. Sometimes it’s just there, sudden and unexplained, and every time, the weather ends up changing.
It’s become a running joke with people around me. They’ll ask, “How’s your knee today?” like I’m some kind of walking weather app. And I’ll say, “Uh-oh, the storm’s coming.” And then, sure enough, it does. I don’t even check the forecast anymore, I trust my body more.
2. CONTEXT
I picked this up from my family, especially the older generation. My grandfather had arthritis and used to say things like, “Storm’s coming, I feel it in my bones,” and I remember thinking it was a funny expression. But I also remember him being right, more often than not. The same thing happened with my mom. She has knee pain and swears by it. So when I started noticing the same thing in my own body, especially after dealing with back issues, I realized this wasn’t just a saying. It was real.
At first I thought I was just imagining it, but then I kept noticing the pattern. There’s something about the barometric pressure dropping before a storm that makes certain pain flare up. I don’t think I would’ve even made the connection if it hadn’t been passed down to me as a known thing. It helped me name what was happening instead of feeling like I was losing it. And even now, it feels like a small way of staying connected to my family, like I’m carrying their wisdom in my body.
3. INTERPRETATION
This saying reflects a deeply embodied form of folk knowledge, rooted in generational experience and personal observation. While it may sound anecdotal or “unscientific” on the surface, there’s actually physiological logic behind it, barometric pressure changes before a storm can affect joint tissue and inflammation, especially in people with previous injuries or chronic pain. The body, in this case, becomes a kind of barometer, registering environmental shifts in a way that scientific instruments later confirm.
Culturally, this phrase expresses an important value in traditional and familial forms of knowledge, wisdom that comes not from books or data, but from lived, bodily experience. Saying “I feel it in my bones” is a way of asserting trust in your own senses, especially in cultures or communities that have historically relied on oral tradition and intuition in the absence of formal medical care or scientific explanations.
Historically, this also reflects a long tradition of weather-related folklore. Before modern meteorology, people paid close attention to the natural world, and their own bodies, as signs of what was to come. This belief bridges the gap between human and environment, showing how people once (and still) read their bodies as extensions of nature. It also serves as a symbol of age, wisdom, and resilience, only those who’ve lived with pain or experience are seen as having the “sensitivity” to detect such subtle shifts.
In modern life, this superstition can offer emotional and psychological comfort. It gives people a sense of control and foresight in situations that are otherwise unpredictable. And for those who live with chronic pain, it offers meaning: a way to interpret their symptoms as useful rather than arbitrary.