What Are April Showers?
The old expression “April Showers bring May flowers” was created in the UK centuries ago, with some sources claiming that variations of the phrase have been heard as far back as the 1500’s. It refers to the idea that April is rainier than most other months, but that’s okay because it makes May much more beautiful. This is a rhyme that we’ve all learned since kindergarten to help better understand how months and seasons work. If the saying has lasted so many centuries, the phrase must be true, right? That’s what this article will look into. I conducted research to compare April’s rainfall to that of other months.
How Was This Researched?
I first had to define my terms and get some sources. Luckily, The Weather Network has historical records and averages going back to many major cities. Simply go on their site, it’s possible to type in your city of choice, and then choose between seeing the weather in one of several ways: “Current”, “Hourly”, “7 Days”, “14 Days”, “weekend”, and “monthly”. I went to “monthly”, which shows monthly weather averages for temperature, rain, and many other things.
I looked at the historical averages of rain in several cities. I looked at the averages of 9 months, from March to November. I left out December, January, and February, thinking that most precipitation would be snow in these months. I then compiled the averages in rain in each of the spring, summer and fall months for several cities.
I chose Hamilton first, as it is my home city. I then wanted to see the averages of several other Canadian cities: Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary. Then, since the expression came from the UK, I also looked up numbers in London and Birmingham, as those are the UK’s two largest cities. The numbers I got were very interesting.
How Much Rain Does April Get?
As expected, this varies widely based on which cities are being measured. I checked Hamilton first, and found that out of the 9 months I tracked, April had the 3rd most precipitation, behind July and August. April was also well above the average amount of rain, averaging 109.7mm, with the average being 96.8mm, despite being a 30-day month. Toronto had similar numbers, with April again coming 3rd, averaging 103mm, against an average of 89mm, with July and August being the two months getting the most. Given the proximity of the two cities, the similarities were not surprising.
Montreal’s numbers aren’t that different, with April being behind only July and August. While April was still above average, getting 103.9mm against an overall average of 93.2mm, the difference was less prominent. However, things were about to change.
Vancouver’s numbers were much lower than I expected, until I found out that most of its rain comes in the winter. April landed 5th, behind March, September, October and November, and ahead of all months from May through August. It had 50.7mm of rain on average, below the average of 65mm in the 9 months measured.
Calgary was even more shocking, with April averaging only 25.6mm of rain, although this was partly due to so much of April in Calgary being snowy. This places it 7th out of the 9 months measured, and well below the average of 44.9mm.
In London, the numbers were even less favourable for the expression, with April being 8th in both months, averaging 34.9mm and 35.3mm, against averages of 50.2mm and 49.4mm respectively.
Do April Showers Bring May Flowers?
As with many things, it depends. Out of the 7 cities measured, April has the 3rd most rain in 3, 5th in one, 7th most in one, and 8th in one more, for an average ranking of 4.8, just better than 5th. However, despite an above average placement, it has a below average amount of rain, getting 66.2mm against an overall average of 69.9, although April being a shorter month might explain this. However, the Canadian cities ranked the best, so it seems as if it’s more true in Canada than where the expression came from. Perhaps April was compared to March and winter, making April seem rainy by comparison?
