how do animals sense a storm?
542389
They can hear it in the distance with their really good hearing.
112706
This is what i found on a website listed below it also has more on that page about fear as an emotion also.  somthing i didnt see in that paper was how animals can smell fear because of the chemical response our bodies have because of fear and the surge of adrenilin it can create.\n\n\nWhat is fear? Technically it is a fight or flight response to a real or perceived threat. Fear is an emotion that responds to threatening situations. Animals exhibit fear and have elaborate defense mechanisms built in to respond to threats. Because we are physically an animal so do we. We respond to threat pretty much in the same way an animal does. Except that humans have a higher mental capacity that animals. This is a gift that separates us from the animal kingdom, but at the same time gives us rational thought. So that humans can reason their situations out and react not in a rigid way as an animal does, but in varied ways. \nAn animal cannot choose to be not fearful, it either is or isn't fearful depending on the situation. Animals are programmed to respond based on instinct. That is that they do what they do because they are compelled to act in a certain way. Humans have some of the same instinct tendencies that animals have, but with the capacity to rationalize our situations, we can, no matter what the threat, real or perceived, choose to fear or not to fear.
748259
I have some incredible weather phenomena going on.\nSee my dark spot in my picture? That is a huge cyclone-like storm that would make it very difficult for birds to fly in. Oh, and take note that the dark spot is about the size of your planet Earth. Now that's giving Katrina a whole new perspective.
630238
According to science Dogs do have the sense of hearing sound waves beyond and below the human hearing levels. (20000Hz and above, 20Hz and below)\n\nAnd they also possess the great ability to sense things through smelling them! (Sniffing!)\n\nWith these two great senses that are graded higher than human senses, i assume that it has the ability of understanding a vehicle that could be in distance, by hearing it and simply sniffing you close-by.\n\nBut, if you believe in angels and demons, then the daredevil is close-by and the dog, can see him waiting for you!
1067552
They use a ouiji board.\n\nNot hard to predict snow, sleet, and hail in Winter and rain, wind, and thunderstorms in Summer.  Nice to throw in sunny or cloudy.\nThere are only so many different weather results.
485983
Well, there are reports of animals leaving the area before some kind of disaster strikes, and of dogs who can detect when there owners are sick.\n\nThrough the centuries, shamans have sought the guidance of animal spirits, to become more in tuned with the world, to heal the sick, and to make wise decisions for the tribe or clan.\n\nDo I believe any of it? Well, lets just say, that if I ever see a bunch of animals vacating an area, I'm going to vamoose myself.
890256
It's difficult to classify many animals and their sense of 'hearing'.  Our own sense of hearing is an extension of our staticoacoustic sense, and is merely a finely tuned ability to detect and discriminate between vibrations in the air.  \n\nAny ability to detect vibrations in air or water media could be technically considered a sense of hearing, it is merely a question of degree.\n\nMany insects are sensitive to only one or two frequencies of sound, and hear those sounds very well, but cannot hear any other frequencies.\n\nFish sense vibrations along their lateral line system, and detect all frequencies pretty much equally well, but often cannot discriminate between them.  So they could tell that someone was talking, but they wouldn't be able to understand what they are saying (even if they did know English).\n\nBoth geckos and hummingbirds have senses of hearing fairly similar to our own.  Geckos are one of the few lizard groups that have members that actually make noise to call mates.  The name of the group is taken from the sound that some of them make (which allegedly sounds like 'geck-oooh, geck-ooooh').  House geckos (Hemidactylus frenatus) are sometimes known as chit-chats because they babble to themselves.\n\nHoneybees and ants do not have particularly good hearing, but they are sensitive to certain specific frequencies.  It would be incorrect to call them completely deaf, but their hearing is definitely not as clear, nor has the range of almost any vertebrate.
1002192
Depends. Downpours and flooding will make even a water loving duck look for somewhere to get a break from the deluge.\n\nI own a couple of ducks, and if it's raining hard, they hunker down or even hide under their shed. A light drizzle they like especially since it makes the dirt yummy and they look for worms.\n\nDucks have oily feathers (special duck oil) that causes water to roll off their backs so they don't get wet and cold.  They also have a lot of body fat which keeps them warm, so wet doesn't bother them.
982294
most people believe that animals don't have they basic intelligence to understand what you might say to them let alone understanding religion.  However since they are cold-blooded, I would say the sun.
19027
I think the scientific explanation is that this is a behavior trait that is hard-wired into their brains through the wonders of natural selection.  When animals are born (including people), their brains (and actually their entire physical bodies) are pre-programmed to do certain things.  They eat when they're hungry.  They "feel" hunger when they haven't eaten in a while.  They run when they're scared.  They feel scared when they see, smell, hear, or feel certain types of things.  Their hearts beat.  Their eyes blink.  They sleep when they're tired.  Having these characteristics gave them the ability to survive as a species and be around today to be observed by us.  Animals who had hearts that didn't "know" to beat automatically didn't last long.\n\nSo flying south for the winter is an instinct that allowed birds to survive.  The many birds who lacked that instinct had more difficulty surviving.
1153983
Rain is sometimes preceded by a sudden drop in barometric pressure.  Some animals, including humans, are able to feel the difference in the surrounding air.  I went to college with a guy who got headaches when the barometric pressure dropped suddenly.... right before it rained.
535634
Changes in barometric pressure do cause changes in both human and animal behavior. Ask any veteran teacher...they can tell a lot about how the day will go just by the weather that morning...
1109849
Actually this is true.  The Hurricane Hunters, an air wing of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration routinely flies P-3 Orion and C-130 Hercules Aircraft into the eyes of hurricanes to do weather observations.  They also commonly report seeing birds in the eyes of hurricanes.
869615
Pressure changes affect the wind.  Temperature change determines whether it will rain or snow.
369015
it's called the 'eye' of the storm, and it's calmer than any other clear day. say you're on the ocean and you're in a hurricane. you find yourself in the eye of the storm... there is no movement. the sun is shining, there is no wind, the ocean is still.
828759
There was a meteor shower the last few days, but those happen about once a month or so, with varying intensities, so nothing new there really.  I think there's no reason to think there's a correlation between your animal's behaviour and cosmic events (since there has never been shown to have a correlation before, except during solar eclipses).  Check their food or any stressful factors instead before trying to blame the universe.
68869
Supposedly the cows sense the moisture in the air and are making sure they have a dry place to lie down, or another explanation is that the cows are conserving heat by because they know the rain will make the air cooler, so they lay on the ground to stay warm. Personally, I have seen cows standing in the rain ignoring it. I wouldn't count on it. \n\nI can tell you what I do use cows to indicate. If you notice grazing cows are spread in a straight line, it might be an indicator of a fault line. The fault tends to create favorable moisture conditions and grows better grass. Sometimes the cows just want to mess with me though.