St Swithin's Day: Will we have rain for the next 40 days?

Nowadays we’re a bit more scientific in our forecasting, but a medieval British legend has it that if it rains today, St Swithin’s Day, then it will rain for the next forty days.

The myth is immortalised in the rhyme:

“St Swithin’s day if thou dost rain
For forty days it will remain
St Swithin’s day if thou be fair
For forty days ‘twill rain nae mare”

The story goes that in AD 971 the Winchester Cathedral monks were planning on moving the body of St Swithin to a grand tomb against his dying wishes.

But come the day of moving the body it rained, postponing the ceremony, and continued to rain for the next forty days.

As it happened the body of the former bishop, also known as The Watery Saint, remained in its place.

We all know this is pure superstition, much like the folklore of Groundhog Day where a groundhog is used to predict if winter weather will continue, but it’s still a fun tradition to discuss.

Today is a mixed bag in terms of our weather, with mild and bright conditions in the west, but then rain across the Northern Isles and in the east – so if the legend is to be believed Glasgow and the Western Isles will be sunny and it will rain in Edinburgh for the next forty days…

But this isn’t the case as most of us will, unfortunately, see rain by the end of the week, with a yellow weather warning already in place across central and eastern parts for heavy rainfall through Tuesday.