When wood on the fire makes a peculiar hissing noise, it is said “to tread snow,” and there will soon be a storm.
Salem, Mass.

When wood on the fire makes a peculiar hissing noise, it is said “to tread snow,” and there will soon be a storm.
Source: Current Superstitions (1896), entry 1055.
Fanny D. Bergen, editor.
Modern normalized navigation; the historical attribution above remains unchanged.