The May (“Two-Four”) Long Weekend.

The first thing I need to say is that I despise the phrase “May Two-Four.” I can deal with a “two-four” being a nickname for a case of beer. I suppose that, for those who are so inclined as to spend the long weekend drinking beer, giving that nickname to the weekend is somewhat appropriate.

Note: please, if you are going to drink this weekend, don't drive!

I’ve never understood why people can’t say “twenty-fourth,” or, better still, refer to it by it’s actual name: Victoria Day.

When I lived in southern Ontario, I discovered that many cities celebrated Victoria Day. In fact, many cities held their annual fireworks display then, rather than n Canada Day.

When you think about it, that makes a bit more sense. After all, the kids are still in school, and while some people may go away for the weekend – perhaps to the “cottage” – the majority were still in town.

Come July, however, many more families are off on vacation.

But I digress; back to Victoria Day.

Here in the Sault I often hear people saying they know it will rain this weekend, because “the Midway’s in town” or, “the long weekend’s here.” I’m never quite sure whether people are serious or not when they say things like this.

The fact is that the weather is not affected by he arrival of the midway, nor does rain any more often on the weekend than during the week.

What happens, I believe, is that we remember the inclement weather more readily than we do the good weather. After all, when the weather is good we remember what we were doing; it’s when the weather prevents us from doing what we want to do that we remember the weather.

As well, most people have notoriously poor memories when it comes to weather, likely because the bad weather sticks in our memory.

So, if the midway coming to town isn’t causing the rain, why does it seem to always rain when it is here?

Coincidence, mostly.

As well, this is just the time of year when we have rain.

Perhaps you’re familiar with the song April Showers, written in 1921 by Louis Silvers and B. G. De Sylva, and recorded by Al Jolson and others.

Tho’ April showers may come your way
they bring the flowers that bloom in May.

I’ve mentioned this before, and it bears mentioning again; the seasons start later here than the calendar indicates. For example, the calendar shows Spring beginning on March 21st, and yet we know that, here in the Sault, we’re still waist-deep in snow.

Likewise in April, when our neighbours in more southerly latitudes are enjoying spring blossoms and budding leaves, our trees are still dormant. And while their April showers will bring May flowers, we must wait a few more weeks.

So here we have May showers that bring June flowers. It doesn’t make for as good a song, but it’s what happens, here.

Environment Canada data shows an average daily temperature in May of 11.5° C (High 17.5° C, Low 5.3° C) and an average rainfall for the month of 67.5 mm, with an average of 18 days with rainfall.

When you scan the data for the “summer” months – May, June, July and August – you will see that May is actually the driest month, although not the warmest.

It may be disappointing that what is commonly referred to as “the first long weekend of the summer” is often dampened by rainfall, it shouldn’t come as a surprise. But remember that the fact that the midway is in town is not the reason for the rain.

If it makes you feel any better, I scanned through the data for a number of other locations (Thunder Bay, Sudbury, Haliburton, Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton and London) and they all have more rainfall – up to 20 mm more – than the Sault during the month of May.

So it seems that, as much as we like to complain about the weather, we have less to complain about than others. We need to be thankful for the sunny days we do have, and make the best of the rainy ones.

But… that’s just my opinion.