Savannah, Ga (WSAV) – As we start a new month today, we can put this weather folklore to the test and see if the first 12 days of the year match up with the weather we experienced overall for that month. According to the folklore, the sunshine and above average temperatures we had on January 2nd should extend through the entire month…let’s see.
FEBRUARY UPDATE
Another month with an easy forecast: sunny with above-average temperatures. While we hit the ball out of the park with half of this folklore, the sunshine was lacking all month! We had 21 days of above average temperatures. We also tied and broke a total of 7 records this month. All of them occurred over the last 2 weeks of February. Now as for the sunshine, much of the month we had a mix of sun and clouds with less than half of the month filled with plentiful sunshine. Only 12 days total for the month.
March forecast: mostly sunny and above average. Check back in at the end of March.
Weather Folklore
This folklore dates back to farmers using this to predict how to prepare their crops for the rest of the year. It is still used today, especially by farmers in Mexico. This tradition extends throughout the entire month.
The weather that occurs over the first 12 days of the new year will represent the weather you can expect for each month. Not only do they look at the first 12 days, but every day through the rest of the month. It gets a little complicated, so stick with me.
Starting off, January 1st-12th follow the months in chronological order: January, February, March….November, December. January 13th-24th follows the months in descending order: December, November, October,…February, January. Okay…that makes sense, right?
Here is where it gets complicated: January 25th-30th divides each day into two: the first half is from midnight through noon and the second half from noon to midnight. The first half follows the odd-numbered months: January, March, May, July, September and November. The second half follows the even-numbered months: February, April, June, August, October and December.
Don’t worry about keeping up with all of that for the rest of the month… For all purposes of this study, I am going to follow the January 1st-12th rules where the weather occurring on that date represents the overall weather for that respective month.
January 1st – January 12
We’ve had a little bit of everything over the first 12 days of January – going from near-record warmth and severe weather to cold, chilly sunshine. I guess this means we should hang on tight for the rest of the year.
It will be interesting how each month turns out overall. Each month I’ll be noting how many days we’ve had above/below/at average and looking at the amount of rain we received as well.
| DATE | WEATHER | RESPECTIVE MONTH | WAS IT ACCURATE? |
| January 1st | Sunny Above Average | January | Yes, Both |
| January 2nd | Sunny Above Average | February | No Sun – No Temp – Yes |
| January 3rd | Mostly Clear Above Average | March | |
| January 4th | Severe T-Storms Above Average | April | |
| January 5th | Sunny & Breezy Above Average | May | |
| January 6th | Sunny Above Average | June | |
| January 7th | Sunny Average | July | |
| January 8th | Sun to Clouds Above Average | August | |
| January 9th | Clouds to Sun Above Average | September | |
| January 10th | Clouds to Sun Above Average | October | |
| January 11th | Mostly Sunny Above Average | November | |
| January 12th | Severe T-Storms Above Average | December |
THE WEATHER OF THE YEAR
JANUARY: The first month of the year held true to the folklore: sunny with above-average temperatures. Temperatures overall have been 5 degrees above average. 21 days out of the entire month had above average temperatures. As for the sunshine…our month started off strong. But the second half of the month was filled with more clouds and rain than sunshine. Overall, we had 16 days of sun.
