Saturday, March 1, 2014

March: In Like a Lion...Out Like Lamb

       Since it's March 1 and weather is on my mind, the little saying about March 1 came to my mind. I began to think of the origin of the saying. I wondered  about the  accuracy the statement.

      I have more than a passing interest in weather. Yesterday I did a whole post on weather. I have my private pilot's license and a good part of our training was weather and I found it very interesting. The grade eight science course had a unit on weather. I had fun with this unit. To wind up the unit we took a field trip to the radiosonde station and watched them prepare a weather balloon and send it up. It as a spectacular end to a unit. Now the radiosonde is obsolete.

     March definitely came in like a lion here. If you check my last post you'll know that conditions were definitely lion like. We had a low of minus 38 C (-24 F) last night  and a wind chill of minus 52 C (-33 F)

    So today I had to check the statement. I was very surprised to discover where the statement originated. It's based on astronomy. The constellation Leo rises in the east  in early march. The Aries constellation sets in the west in  late March. So there you have the lion in early March and the lamb in late March. Yes, it was conveniently applied to weather.

    Those who follow the Farmer's Almanac will find that the March statement is a standby.

    Since I have a bit of a science background , I wonder what the stats are on what happens. What are the odds of this statement being accurate? Does anybody know how to calculate the odds on this statement?

    How do you handle statements like "in like a lion and out like a lamb?" Do you have other weather statements that you swear by?