Welcome to the first weekend of spring. I know it doesn’t look or, in many cases, feel like spring, but it’s coming.
Earlier in the week, I had some fun with weather lore and weather games and I thought I would give you an update on both.
First Grandma’s wisdom: Grandma believed the wind direction at the precise moment of the equinox could foretell the weather for the summer.
If the wind was from the south, summer would be warm. A north wind pointed to a cold summer. An east wind would indicate a damp summer and a west wind meant it would be dry.
I’ve heard back from many of you who were good enough to go outside at 1:14 ADT (1:44 NDT) to check the wind direction.
Here are the results:
The prevailing wind in Nova Scotia was west to northwest, which means dry and cool. The wind also blew from the west-northwest across New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. In Newfoundland, the wind was generally from the southwest. That bodes well. Summer should be mild and dry. Of course, only time will tell!
Still on the topic of the equinox, I mentioned that it was believed you could balance a raw egg on its narrow end at the exact time the sun crossed the equator.
Shelley and Karl Webb from St Margaret’s Bay, N.S, gave it a try and it worked! “This image gives you the result of our experiment on March 20. The egg did indeed remain upright from 1:14 until 2:04 p.m., when I accidentally brushed against it and it toppled.”
How fun! If you didn’t try it, you’ll have to wait six more months!
Meteorology is a science, but that should never stop us from having fun with it. Grandma, folklore and intriguing experiments grew my passion for the wonderful world of weather.
Today’s weather facts
The infamous Sheila’s Brush came by a little later this year. In 2017, the annual storm rolled across Newfoundland and Labrador March 20. By noon March 21, 15 cm of new snow had fallen in St. John's, N.L. It was followed by freezing rain and then rain.
How could we forget the winter of 2015? Three years ago on March 24, there was just over 90 cm of snow on the ground in Halifax, New Glasgow and Sydney, N.S., 90 in Summerside, P.E.I., 117 cm in Truro, N.S. and a whopping 148 cm of snow on the ground in Charlottetown, P.E.I.! It does put everything into perspective, doesn’t it?
- Want more weather information? Visit WeatherByDay.ca
- Have a weather question, photo or drawing to share with Cindy Day? Email [email protected]
Cindy Day is the chief meteorologist for SaltWire Network.
