Knox Box of Miscellany

Dawn Knox – A rearranger of words into something hopefully meaningful…

St. Swithin’s Day Warning!

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Westminster Abbey reflected in a large puddle after some heavy rain in London.

Westminster Abbey reflected in a large puddle after some heavy rain in London.

‘St. Swithun’s day if thou dost rain
For forty days it will remain
St. Swithun’s day if thou be fair
For forty days ’twill rain nae mair.’

It’s St. Swithin’s Day today and it looks like it might be good weather although it’s grey at the moment and very unwise to ever assume anything about the weather in England. I know it’s an old wives tale about it raining for forty days if it rains on St. Swithin’s Day but I checked on the Royal Meteorological Society website and they had this to say:

“The middle of July tends to be around the time that the jet stream settles into a relatively consistent pattern. If the jet stream lies north of the UK throughout the summer, continental high pressure is able to move in, bringing warmth and sunshine. If it sticks further south, Arctic air and Atlantic weather systems are likely to predominate, bringing colder, wetter weather. The rhyme just needs a little re-rendering:

St Swithun’s day if thou dost rain
For forty days, relatively unsettled there’s a fair chance it will remain
St Swithun’s day if thou be fair
For forty days, a northerly jet stream might result in some fairly decent spells
But then again it might not” 

You can check out their website here if you’re interested.

Well, if it does rain today and we’re in for forty days of rain, grab yourself a copy of ‘Daffodil and the Thin Place’ and curl up in the dry. You can buy it here and there are links to all main ebook sellers for you to choose from.

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