Isobars are back!

Yesterday (15th July) was St Swithin's day. The original St Swithin lived in Winchester and by all accounts was a bit of an Outdoorsman. So he asked to be buried outdoors and, being an influential chap, had his request granted. At least initially. When, later on, his remains were moved to a posh indoor venue, there was a violent storm and it carried on being wet for most of the summer. And so was born the tradition, summed up in the little ditty:

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 mair.

It so happened that, here at least, the afternoon of St Swithin's day was quite wet. And lo and behold, so was this afternoon, so we wonder here at Chateau Lunchista if we're in for 40 wet afternoons. This would go against the Met Office forecast for the summer, which as you may remember from a previous post was talking about dry conditions interspersed with the odd downpour. So Lunchista has started following the TV weather forecasts to see if anyone's willing to pass comment about all this.

About two years ago the quality of information on the TV weather forecasts took a bit of a dive. In particular, Scotland all but disappeared off the edge of a newly-curved map, and the proper synoptic chart, with its isobars, was abandonned, perhaps because some focus group (or more accurately the most vociferous person therein) said they didn't understand it.

So imagine Lunchista's delight when, on the weather at the end of the evening news last night, not only were the isobars back, but they were complemented by a detailed explanation of where all the rain was coming from. The Jet Stream, which usually directs the sequence of lows to which we are treated in winter and then disappears North in the summer to leave us in an island of High pressure (and fine, calm weather with it), has decided to indulge in a summertime southern sortie over the UK.

Now I'm not sure how rapidly the Jet Stream changes its course, but supposing the answer is "not very" that might explain the St Swithin's Day ditty. It will be interesting to see, as the forty days go by, which forecast (wet from St Swithin's, or dry from the official long-range) will be the more accurate.

Meanwhile if it keeps on raining we can console ourselves that at least it will be good for one thing: St Swithin's rain is supposed to "christen the apples" and make for a good harvest.