As the story opens, the omniscient narrator indicates that the birds’ altered behavior coincided with the onset of winter. The story takes place along a coast. Ned’s neighbor, a farmer, remarks about the weather changing and predicts a hard winter. As Ned walks home, there is no wind, and he looks out at the calm, gray sea. Overnight, the weather does change. Ned wakes up around two a.m. and notices the wind blowing down the chimney. The sound it makes is “hollow.” This type of wind is “cold and dry.” It makes the slate roof rattle. Ned also hears the roar of the sea in the nearby bay. He can tell the sound is different from the kind of gale which brings rain. The changing weather makes the bedroom, where his wife sleeps beside him, chilly, and a draft blows under the door.