So we've turned another calendar page. Do people still do that? I do and I have a favourite! Years ago, everybody handed out calendars: the local garage, the corner store, the hairdresser. My favourite was always the milk calendar from the milk marketing board. This year, mom got two so I took one home with me!
Grandma loved to hang new calendars around the house on New Year’s Day. She used the calendars as journals, but she also watched for certain days. For example, the third day of each month was especially important: according to Grandma, “le trois fait le mois.” Roughly translated, that means the kind of weather you get on the third day of the month is an indication of the kind of month it’s going to be.
Thursday was the third of May and the weather pattern was very interesting across Atlantic Canada. A cold front split Nova Scotia in two: the high temperature in Cheticamp was only 8 C, but it was a balmy 25 at Western Head. Prince Edward Island was on the colder side with a heavy cloud cover and very cool temperatures. It was cool and damp across Newfoundland and Labrador with a few showers and flurries!
So, whatever kind of day it was where you live, expect the same for the rest of the month, or so Grandma says.
Now that’s not the end of it: the weather expression, or “dicton” in French, continues to say, “le cinq le défait et le sept le remet.”
The trend can be undone by the weather on the fifth and reset by the weather conditions on the seventh. There is very little if any science to support this one, but it’s fun to observe and made for very interesting conversations every month back on the farm.
P.S. Over the last five years, the prediction has been correct nine of the 12 months each year. Go figure!
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Cindy Day is the chief meteorologist for SaltWire Network.
