An Old Wive's Tale?

For as long as I can remember, I have loved storms (they truly fascinate me; all the different kinds, too). But I have one favorite type... maybe it is the setting, I'm not really sure, but I really enjoy watching these.

Here in Ohio Valley of West Virginia, we get these powerful thunderstorms in the summer. They are brief but they make their presence known!

I can remember sitting on the back porch at our farmhouse as a kid watching these storms come and go, the lightning crawling through the sky like a spider making a web (I always called it spider lightning) and the loud cracks and booms of the thunder (someone tried to tell me that someone in heaven was bowling).

There is a particular part of the storms that I have always watched for. On that very porch I can remember someone telling me to keep your eyes on the trees. I was told that if the leaves on trees start turning upside down, then there is a storm coming. To this very day, I still "keep my eyes on the trees."


This evening I was watching as usual. One of these storms was nearby and I watched the familiar sight of the trees and thought we had a good one coming... some thunder and a tiny bit of lightning, but to my disappointment the storm did not hit us.

So is this thing about the leaves true? There was a storm, but it did not hit where I was, so should the leaves have turned?