St Swithun's Day Proverb

Yesterday (15th July) was St Swithun's Day. According to the proverb....


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 mare.

Saint Swithun's day falls on the 15th July and the proverb forecasts the weather for the summer. It dates to Anglo-Saxon times and the burial of St Swithun, the Bishop of Winchester Cathedral. One local legend suggests the proverb originates from the day the saint's remains where moved from the graveyard to a tomb. To show his displease with his new, more sheltered home the saint summoned a storm onto the town which held for 40 days.

While this obviously isn't based on scientific theory, there is some basis to the idea that the weather in mid-July can be used to predict the weather pattern over the next 40 days.

If this is the case, and Paul Hudson, the weatherman on BBC's "Look North" programme seems to believe it, we could be in for some hot sunny weather. His forecast yesterday predicted at least ten more days of hot sunny weather!