Rain for 40 days after the scorcher of a summer Britain is currently having?
The fair-skinned and farmers among the population might welcome such a biblical amount of rainfall.
With potentially record-breaking temperatures next week, the UK is currently experiencing heatwave-like conditions and the sticky nights that go with it.
Legend has it, however, that rain on Friday July 15 could disrupt the pattern of sunshine that is forecast.
But what does a millennia-old tale about a priest and where he is buried have to do with the weather ?
Friday marks the day when some superstitious folk will be looking at the sky anxiously, believing the slightest speck of rain could spark a six week deluge.
What is St Swithin’s Day?
A medieval folklore suggests that if it rains on July 15, then it will rain for 40 days and 40 nights.
St Swithin - sometimes spelt Swithun - died on July 15 in 862 (although there is debate about the exact year).
The Saxon bishop of Winchester is said to have asked to be buried outside where rain could fall on his grave rather than have his remains placed inside the Hampshire cathedral.
Some 108 years later on the anniversary of his death day, devoted monks decided to move the body from the “vile and unworthy grave” and into a special tomb.
The legend then states that a sudden deluge drenched the funeral party and it rained for nearly seven weeks afterwards and the exhumation was abandoned.
Out of this story, the myth sprang about St Swithin’s Day being tied to the future weather prognosis.
A well-known proverb says:
“St. Swithun's day if thou dost rain
“For forty days it will remain,
“St. Swithun's day if thou be fair
“For forty days 'twill rain no more.”
Is the St Swithin’s Day myth true?
It has been wrong on plenty of occasions, most spectacularly in 1913.
The Guinness Book of Records says there was a 15-hour rainstorm on July 15 that year but 30 out of the next 40 days were dry.
Weather experts say that since records began in 1861, there has never been a record of 40 dry or 40 wet days in a row following St Swithin's Day.
Historians can find no contemporary record of the story about the monks being rained on as they looked to move St Swithin's body.
It might have been a legend that later developed around the saint, who has a number of miracles attributed to him.
With the weather frequently changing around midsummer, it may be that the tradition stemmed from a pre-Christian belief in a single day having particular significance for the way the weather would pan out.
Other European countries have similar legends tied to different saints, such as St Medard’s June 8 feast day in France.
Friday July 15, 2022, is set to be a warm day, with highs of 26C in London.
However, rain is predicted for the north and western parts of the UK, with next week bringing with it stifling temperatures.
