Post by Clara on Jul 16, 2009 12:50:12 GMT
By Lesley-Anne Henry
Thursday July 16 2009
Folklore predictions of rain for the next 40 days could prove true this year, weather forecasters have warned.
The grim news comes after a day of downpours yesterday — on St Swithin’s Day.
Tradition dictates that rain on St Swithin’s Day means rain for the next 40 days and 40 nights, until August 23.
And the heavy showers which pelted most parts of the country yeterday cast doubts on earlier predictions of a long, hot summer.
A forecaster with the Press Association’s weather department, MeteoGroup, said it was likely to be wet in Ireland for the “foreseeable future”.
“The folklore might hold a degree of truth this year. There has been a mixture of sunshine and showers and some very heavy downpours" he said. "It looks rather unsettled and changeable for the foreseeable future. It’s due to the jet stream in the south.
“When the jetstream is in a high latitude, for example over Scotland or Iceland, we are on the side of warm and settled weather. That is not the case now. Its current position is heading over Spain and France and that means we are seeing cool and unsettled weather. It is going to stay quite far south, meaning the unsettled and changeable weather is here to stay.”
St Swithin, Bishop of Winchester, was a prominent 9th century character who was cleric and adviser to England's King Aethelwulf and in his latter years acted as a mentor to the young King Alfred.
His death bed request was to be buried in an outside tomb so that he could “feel” the raindrops on his grave and not with his episcopal predecessors in a prominent place within Winchester Cathedral. But his successor bishop Aethelwold considered it too unworthy for such an important figure to be buried outside and so Swithin’s remains were moved into a magnificent shrine inside the cathedral. A huge ceremony was held on July 15 in the year 971, but was ruined when a huge rainstorm broke a period of drought. The weather remained abnormally rainy for several weeks afterwards.
Legend says that the storm was seen as an indication of divine displeasure and Swithin’s bones were left where they were.
But while July is expected to be a letdown weather wise, hopes are still high for improvements next month.
Added the Meteogroup spokesman: “There is still plenty of summer left. It could all change in August.”
- Lesley-Anne Henry
Thursday July 16 2009
Folklore predictions of rain for the next 40 days could prove true this year, weather forecasters have warned.
The grim news comes after a day of downpours yesterday — on St Swithin’s Day.
Tradition dictates that rain on St Swithin’s Day means rain for the next 40 days and 40 nights, until August 23.
And the heavy showers which pelted most parts of the country yeterday cast doubts on earlier predictions of a long, hot summer.
A forecaster with the Press Association’s weather department, MeteoGroup, said it was likely to be wet in Ireland for the “foreseeable future”.
“The folklore might hold a degree of truth this year. There has been a mixture of sunshine and showers and some very heavy downpours" he said. "It looks rather unsettled and changeable for the foreseeable future. It’s due to the jet stream in the south.
“When the jetstream is in a high latitude, for example over Scotland or Iceland, we are on the side of warm and settled weather. That is not the case now. Its current position is heading over Spain and France and that means we are seeing cool and unsettled weather. It is going to stay quite far south, meaning the unsettled and changeable weather is here to stay.”
St Swithin, Bishop of Winchester, was a prominent 9th century character who was cleric and adviser to England's King Aethelwulf and in his latter years acted as a mentor to the young King Alfred.
His death bed request was to be buried in an outside tomb so that he could “feel” the raindrops on his grave and not with his episcopal predecessors in a prominent place within Winchester Cathedral. But his successor bishop Aethelwold considered it too unworthy for such an important figure to be buried outside and so Swithin’s remains were moved into a magnificent shrine inside the cathedral. A huge ceremony was held on July 15 in the year 971, but was ruined when a huge rainstorm broke a period of drought. The weather remained abnormally rainy for several weeks afterwards.
Legend says that the storm was seen as an indication of divine displeasure and Swithin’s bones were left where they were.
But while July is expected to be a letdown weather wise, hopes are still high for improvements next month.
Added the Meteogroup spokesman: “There is still plenty of summer left. It could all change in August.”
- Lesley-Anne Henry