I’ve been in this business long enough to know that people love to talk about the weather.
Comments can range from: it’s too warm, too cold, been damp lately, where’s the sun, really, more snow? …Well, you get the idea. Last month, almost without exception, people have been commenting on the wind. One man approached me and said, “Who knew it would be so windy?”
It’s been a very windy month. Since early fall, the jet stream has straddled the coast acting like a conveyor belt hauling systems up across the region. Cold air parked to the north and warm air on the south side of the divide resulted in a pressure difference and lots of wind.
That answers the why… and now for the “who knew?” Grandma did!
One of Grandma’s favourite weather expressions was “le trois fait le mois.” Roughly translated it means the kind of weather you get on the third day of the month is an indication of the kind of month it’s going to be.
The third of November was a wild day across Atlantic Canada. A fall storm rolled through with wind and rain. Here’s proof of the rain and wind:
- Fredericton: 26 mm; SW G102 km/h
- Halifax: 14 mm; SW G100 km/h
- Sydney: 10 mm; SW G85 km/h
- Charlottetown: 28 mm; SW G104 km/h
- St. John’s: 7 mm; SW G68 km/h
- Corner Brook: 34 mm; SW G53 km/h
- Labrador: 4 cm of snow; N G50 km/h
As it turned out, the month was very wet and very windy; temperatures were below average and precipitation was well above normal, right across Atlantic Canada!
Now today is the Dec. 3! Time will tell if the rest of the month will be like today…
But wait, that’s not the end of it. The weather expression or “dicton” continues to say: “le cinq le defait et le 7 le remet.”
So today’s prognostication can be undone by the weather on the fifth day on the month and reset by the weather conditions on the seventh. There is very little, if any science to support this one, but it’s fun to observe and it always made for very interesting conversations back on the farm.
P.S.: Over the last five years, it’s been correct nine of the 12 months each year.
Go figure!
