Meet Gus Wickstrom, a man who claims he can predict weather patterns six months in advance. Incredibly, Gus, from Saskatchewan in America, doesn't use computers, or technology of any sort to perform his meteorological miracle. Gus Wickstrom uses pigs' guts. Twice a year Gus, using a technique learned from his father, slaughters a pig, plucks out its spleen, and tells you whether it's going to rain. Six months from now.
Gus's technique requires dividing the spleen into six sections, one for each month in his half-year cycle. Depending on the thickness of the spleen's section (the thicker it is, the colder it'll probably be), Gus can predict rain, snow, sun - even the temperature. Apparently.
Seventy two year-old Joe King is another spleen-studier. However, Joe believes the spleen must be removed in the autumn or early winter; any later, and the spleen is rubbish. You can find out more here at the Farmer's Almanac… but first let us finish with the words of the pig-spleen experts, who remind us that the spleen is a vascular, ductless organ that stores blood and destroys worn out blood cells. "The spleen is a useful organ that has bodily functions. It has nothing to do with predicting the weather," this well-balanced article informs us. And who are we to disagree?
http://www.almanac.com/extremes/pigspleen.html
