Record of Rain

Weather lore, rain cycles and climate justice

It’s April in the Yorkshire dales and I am standing under a dense patch of trees taking shelter from another downpour. The day has been typical of this month with intermittent rain but today the clouds have allowed the sun to break through occasionally. I turn my face to the sun whenever it peeks through. It’s been a long, wet and dark winter and the sun on my face feels medicinal. Looking up between the trees, the clouds are not the usual blanket of grey but broken and in some places crumbed and scaly looking. I’m reminded of the old weather folklore, 

“Mackerel sky, mackerel sky. Never long wet, never long dry” 

I wonder if there’s reliable truth in it. It certainly seems true today but I make a mental note to Google it later. Another saying comes to mind, 

“April showers bring forth May flowers”

I smile to myself as it seems like sound logic and the thought of wildflower season being just around the corner is the boost I need to push me through the last dregs of winter. This year I have thought more about the rain than ever before and my eyes which are usually in the hedgerows have recently been directed to the sky.

In January, myself and co-creator Thee Oo Thazin were awarded a grant by the British Council’s ‘Connection Through Culture’ grants programme designed to nurture cultural partnerships between East Asia and the UK. Thee Oo is an artist and Illustrator from Myanmar. Do go check out her lovely work over on instagram @theeoothazin. Our project titled ‘Record of Rain’ explores the rain of Myanmar and the UK through historical poems and traditional weather lore. Through a series of silk screen and letterpress prints we aim to illustrate changing rain patterns and foster dialogue on climate impact and cultural connections.

I have never thought about rain so much before. I certainly hadn’t thought much about the rain in Myanmar. But now, as I shelter from the rain, my thoughts go to Thee Oo and I wonder if it is raining where she is. The rain stops but I stay put under these trees for a moment and allow my senses to drink in the sound of the rain drops still dripping down from leaf to leaf and the dappled sun catching the light of the drops on the leaf tips before they coalesce to swell and fall. As I focus my attention on a single clinging drop my own thoughts coalesce as my mind pulls in the thoughts and concepts that have been mulling there since I begun this collaborative project.

Rain Musings…

…The water contained in that drop is part of a closed system. This system is an endless cycle, meaning that the same water falls as rain over and over again. Not only does this mean that the same water clinging to this leaf tip fell as rain long before we humans felt it dampen our skin, but also that it could someday fall as rain in Myanmar. Thee Oo, my co-creator and I might never have the opportunity to meet in person but we are connected by this rain.

Though we are all nourished by the same water we share on this earth we certainly don’t all experience it in the same way. The Monsoon rains of Myanmar are altogether different from the rains of the Yorkshire Dales. I live in a town that is sometimes cut off by flooding. It is a frequent enough occurrence for us to have a dedicated neighbourhood flood watch.  I often hear of local farms impacted by unseasonal rains and it's not uncommon to see a sheep limping from hoof rot exacerbated by waterlogged ground. But this is still vastly different to the lived experience of those who live with the floods of a monsoon climate. In 2015 Myanmar experienced the worst monsoon flooding seen in decades. Destroying lives and livelihoods, “At their peak the floods affected over 9 million people across 12 of Myanmar’s 14 states and regions. The floods temporarily displaced over 1.7 million people and destroyed 15,000 homes as well as more than 840,000 acres of agricultural crops.” (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 2015). It's hard to imagine a life lived at the mercy of a regular monsoon season. 

Below is Thee Oo’s explanation (in her own hand) of the seasons in Myanmar. Note the difference in seasonal changes from those described in old writings to the present day.

When we think of climate change the term ‘global warming’ may come to mind. But I feel this term fails to encapsulate what we are experiencing on our planet. ‘Environmental systems collapse’ seems a more appropriate term for the heatwaves, wildfires, melting ice caps, rising sea levels, species eradication and extreme weather events. And what about the rain? “Warmer air can hold more water, so rainfall is increasing on average across the world” (Met office, 2024). Poor land management such as river redirection, removal of wetlands, deforestation, urban development and soil contamination also means the eradication of the lands natural flood defences leaving nothing left to ‘slow the flow’ and poor soil that cannot hold the water. This creates a doubled effect; not only are we experiencing increasingly more flooding but we are becoming increasingly less resilient to its impact.

It’s clear that we are all responsible for climate change. It’s also clear that the impact of it is unfair. “Though developed countries produce most greenhouse gas emissions, developing countries are predicted to see most of the severe effects. With fewer resources to adapt to these changes, the impact on people in developing countries is expected to be higher” (Met Office, 2024). Climate change is already a factor for human migration. “Recent trends indicate more internal displacement due to climate-related disasters than conflict, where in fact, of the 30.6 million people displaced across 135 countries in 2017, 60 percent were as a direct result of disasters” (Climate Refugees, 2024). As so called ‘developed countries’ responsible for a significant portion of emissions, are we prepared to take responsibility for climate refugees displaced by climate change? While we build walls and enforce borders, the water on this planet goes where it will and will fall as rain wherever it chooses. One planet, one hydrological system. We share it all…..

As my thoughts come to this conclusion, I watch as the raindrop finally swells enough to fall to the ground and I imagine the journey it might take before it once again falls as rain. Where will it fall next? Another folk saying comes to mind, this time taking the form of a children’s nursery rhyme, 

“Rain rain go away, come again another day”

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References:

OCHA - https://reliefweb.int/disaster/fl-2015-000080-mmr

Met Office - https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/climate-change/effects-of-climate-change

Climate Refugees - https://www.climate-refugees.org/why

How you can help

If you’re moved by what you have read here, Action Aid works with Women and Girls, ethnic minorities and displaced peoples in Myanmar. You can donate and read more about their work in Myanmar here.

‘Record of Rain’ is supported by The British Council’s Connection Through Culture grant programme which aims to support new cultural collaborations between the UK and East Asia. This support assists artists and cultural organisations working across all art forms to create new connections and collaborative projects.