01 March 2011

MARCH

Astronomy:  Full Worm Moon, also called Full Sap Moon, on the 19th.  This is the closest Full Moon of 2011.

Vernal Equinox at 7:21 pm on the 20th. 

Spring Forward!  Daylight Saving Time begins (for those that are required to follow it) at 2:00 am on the 13th.  Move your clocks ahead one hour when you go to bed the night before.
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Weather for March:
According to the Twelve Days of Christmas: Snow and high winds.
According to the first twelve days of January: Brilliant sunshine and chilly.
According to the Ember Days: Bright clear skies and chilly.
According to the last Sunday of the previous month: Snow.  Would you believe it?  More snow.
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Weather Lore: 

The Ember Days (and the months whose weather they foretell) are the 16th (April), 18th (May), and 19th (June).

Everyone knows that March 'comes in like a lion, goes out like a lamb' or vice-versa.  Except in New England.  Here it comes in like a lion, and stays that way.

A dry March, wet April, and cool May,
fill barn and cellar, and bring much hay

So many mists in March you see
So many frosts in May will be.

When March has April weather, April will have March weather.

As it rains in March, so it rains in June.

Fog in March, thunder in July.

A wet March makes a sad August.  Sad in the form of a bad harvest.

Dust in March brings grass and foliage.  And if the dust is mud (which it usually is)?

Thunder in March betokens a fruitful year.
        however 
When it thunders in March, it brings sorrow.
        and
When March thunders, tools and arms get rusty. [I'm thinking that the arms referred to here are firearms - however, I've noticed my own two arms sounding and feeling a little creaky]

There will be heavy rains on the first Monday in March.

If it snows on the first day of March, there will be snow for thirty days.

If it doesn't freeze on the 10th, a fertile year may be expected.

First comes David, next comes Chad,
Then comes Winnall as if he was mad.  (the first three days of March)

If on Saint Joseph's Day it is clear,
So follows a fertile year.
    also
Lady Day clear, expect a fertile year.  (St. Joseph's day is the 19th; Lady Day, Annunciation, is on the 25th)
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These superstitions have nothing to do with the weather, but they are rather interesting:

If you cut your hair in March...
...you will have a year of headache.
...you will be sick before the year is out.
...you will lose a horse.
...you will never live to see another March

To move in March brings bad luck.

If a person lives through March, he will live the rest of the year. [Unless he cuts his hair]