The weather for the remainder of the summer months may continue to be lacking if the legend of a seemingly vengeful saint is to be believed.
June and July have left a lot to be desired so far, with last month one of the coldest Junes on record, the 56th coldest to be exact.
The St Swithin’s Day myth goes that whatever weather is dealt on July 15th, it will be replicated for the following 40 days and 40 nights.
St Swithin, who was the Bishop of Winchester, was canonised more than a century after his passing in 862AD.
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His connection to weather, however, stretches back to his remains being exhumed and moved from a humble plot in the graveyard to a shrine in the adjoining cathedral.
The decision was made by his successor Bishop Ethelwold and apparently Swithin was a settled soul who did not take kindly to being moved.
This prompted him to put a curse on the whole world, having requested that he be buried outside in the graveyard, according to the legend.
On the day his body was moved and as the ceremony to celebrate his saintliness reached its end, it lashed rain.
The intensity of the storm led locals to believe it could only have been caused by the saint’s anger at Ethelwold’s decision to go against his wishes and move him to the big shrine.
“St Swithin’s day if thou dost rain, for 40 days it will remain. St Swithin’s Day if thou be fair, for 40 days ‘twill rain nae mare,” the saying goes.
Fans of Netflix’s One Day will remember the folklore plays a big part in the show – it is the date Dex and Emma first meet, and it is the day they continue to meet over the years. While St Swithin’s Day always brought sunshine for Dex and Emma, what might it have in store for us?
Met Éireann’s forecast for July 15th shows it will be mainly dry over the northern half of the country with sunny spells.
Those living further south, however, may find themselves cursing St Swithin himself due to the cloudier conditions forecast with outbreaks of showery rain.
This will become persistent and heavy at times as it moves northwards across counties in the south and east.
Monday will see highs of 15 to 21 degrees with wet conditions clearing early on in the night though there is a chance of mist later on, according to Met Éireann.
Although longer term projections forecast higher than average temperatures in July and August, the changeable and unsettled weather forecast for Monday is set to continue through to Friday at least.
It will vary between overall cloudy conditions to breaks of sunny spells and scattered showers, while Friday “looks like a dull, wet and rather breezy day nationwide,” according to the forecaster.
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