What kind of summer is in store this year? According to Richard Kirwan’s weatherlore we’re odds on for a dryer than average season.

Kirwan, a Dublin-based chemist with a keen interest in the weather, deduced from observations made from 1677 to 1789 that the weather around the spring equinox provided a very good pointer to what was in store in the months ahead.

The lore, noted in Luke Howard‘s Climate of London, suggests that the probability is five to one in favour of a dry summer.

The detail, however, hinges around key dates.

1/ When there has been no storm before or after the vernal equinox the ensuing summer is generally dry, at least five times in six.

2/ When a storm happens from an easterly point on the 19th, 20th, or 21st of March the succeeding summer is dry, four times in five.

3/ When a storm arises on the 25th, 26th, or 27th of March, and not before, in any point, the succeeding summer is generally dry, four times in five.

4/ If there should be a storm at SW, or WSW, on the 19th, 20th, or 22nd of March, the succeeding summer is generally wet, five times in six.

Howard goes on to say: “Dry summers (this philosopher states) are the consequence of uniform winds, from whatever quarter they may blow; as wet summers are of their variation, particular if in opposite directions.”

Again, “Southerly winds are most frequently accompanied with rain in most parts of Europe at least, and probably in most parts of our hemisphere; but northerly and easterly, with clear dry and serene weather.”

And it seems reasonable to suppose that the wind which is to prevail during the summer, may most frequently set in with the vernal equinox.”

I’ve had a look back through my own records and this theory falls down, when you consider the absolute detail, on notable summers including 1995. But then, just like weather forecasting at short range, it is all about ‘chance’ – five times in six is still only an 83 per cent certainty.

There is also the matter of how Kirwan and Howard defined a “storm”. What we would call a storm now would be very rare in the second half of March anywhere around London, possibly less rare in the Dublin area. I am also assuming that Kirwan remembered to take into account the switch from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar in 1752.

What is notable, however, is how far ahead of their time Kirwan, Howard and other scientists were in having the thought to notice these patterns – something that continues to fascinate amateur and professional meteorologists alike today.