Rain is simply water, so why should it make the world smell different? If you go outside at the beginning of a rainstorm, the unique scent, called petrichor, is caused by the high-speed water hitting the soil and plants. This releases little bursts of chemical compounds into the air.

Since sound and light travel at different speeds, you can get a rather accurate indication of how far away a storm is by counting the time between a lightning bolt and thunder rumble. After the flash of lightning, begin counting off the seconds until the thunder is heard. Divide the seconds by three to arrive at the distance in kilometres.

In order to record an accurate air temperature, readings must be taken in a properly ventilated and radiation-shielded unit. The “old school” way of measuring temperatures is using mercury thermometers in a Stevenson Screen (pictured below)

As you can see, the orientation of the slats are designed to allow airflow and not allow any sunlight inside to affect the thermometers. 

So, while you may think that a thermometer in the shade is accurate, if it isn’t installed in a proper unit, the temperature readings are not accurate.

For the most part, this is correct. Since the sun sets in the west, if you see a red sky at sunset, it indicates that the air to the west is dry and is reflecting from dust particles, which means high pressure is to the west, so no significant storm is likely the following day. However, this is not always the case if a low is originating from the south, north, or east, but since most low pressure systems in the northern hemisphere travel west to east, this statement is usually true.

And it’s just the opposite for a sunrise that is red or orange; the high pressure is to the east, but it doesn’t always mean a low is coming from the west. It could be a large area of high pressure that may continue for multiple days.

So, long story short. It’s typically correct, but not always.