Our ancestors lived close to the land, Candlemas is a day rich in weather related folklore. It is the point half way between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox.
The weather to day gives us an indication of what the following months may bring.
“If Candlemas day be fair and bright
Winter will have another flight;
If Candlemas Day be clouds and rain
Winter be gone and will not come again”
So although we woke to a light dusting of snow this morning, it was rather “Fair and bright” with lovely sunshine.
This does not bode well for the long hot summer I was hoping for this year.
But hang on.. There is another folklore rhyme, which says
“If February give much snow, A fine summer it doth foreshow”
As we don’t tend to get much snow here in the Artist’s Garden because we are so close to the sea I am hoping that the snow Victoria, Easygardener and VP showed on their blogs today will count as “much snow” but I also hope that the “fine summer” will extend up here to wet Wales and not be confined to the south and middle of England.
This evening brought another flurry, the temperatures dropped, with more snow forecasted for tonight.
Roll on long hot summer is what I say.
“The Welshman would rather see his dam on her bier,
Than see a fair Februeer”.
PS, Amanda, Cooking in Someone else’s kitchen
Joy Garden joy 4 me
Sandy Gardenpath
Plus all you others who have “big snow”, please don’t laugh at our snow!
No Karen, I wouldn’t say it was fair and bright up here in the middle of Scotland either. We have had heavy skies with snow falling most of the day. Perhaps there is hope for a good summer yet? Very nice shots from your garden – love that camelia
Shirl’s last blog post..A winter welcome to…
Lovely photos, Karen — we’re expecting another 25cms of snow (10″) tomorrow. :-/ We are not amused!
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Your Camellia is very pretty.
I’m rather proud of my snow even though it isn’t big snow. Deep down I don’t think I would like big snow – it would last far too long (lol).
Yes I too am crossing my fingers for that long hot summer.
easygardener’s last blog post..Whooo! I’ve got snow, real snow
I am most interested in weather folklore Karen and have a couple of books on the subject. There inevitably seems to discrepancies so I think that you should read into the weather what pleases you
Here we do not get much snow but had some overnight, which almost thawed under a blue sky and sunshine. Then from about four o’clock it snowed quite heavily for a good while so the ground is covered again. I am not going to laugh at your ‘little snow’ – it looks like what we normally get 
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Interesting weatherlore today Karen. I love your fine dusting of snow, it’s more than we got this year. I’m hoping for a not so hot & humid summer myself. By August I’m a puddle.
Racquel’s last blog post..Trickling in…
Ooooh I love weather lore and thanks for the link too!
It’s still snowing here – have just come back from choir with it beginning to settle on the gritted roads, so tomorrow should be a winter wonderland!
I do hope the second saying comes true!
VP’s last blog post..GBMD – Lodore Falls
We got a bit more on our side of the bay, but fortunately not nearly as much as some other people. I’ve got to go back to work on Wednesday and don’t fancy trying to get my car onto the main road! We ARE going to have a good summer. I will not accept anything else! Some would say that global warming has disrupted all the old weatherlore, so I agree with Anna, read into it what makes you happy, ie, sunshine.
That is very interesting lore–I never knew about that. Surely our “ground hog day” sprang from Candelmas?
Lovely photo of your snow. I vote that it counts.
Susan Tomlinson’s last blog post..A view from the potting bench/bird blind
We have had a deep cover of snow but rain at the moment. I just hope it doesn’t freeze or it will be a skating rink in the morning. Like the sound of the old saying – a hot summer- bring it on.
Cheers
Shirley
Hmm…The day started out cloudy but ended sunny…Which is the story of our winters and springs. We can expect a great deal of overlap! Karen your photos are lovely, as is your garden. Gail
gail’s last blog post..Mixed Feelings
There was a very light sprinkling of snow yesterday morning but it started raining in the afternoon so it’s all gone now but we did have the clouds and rain thingy going on so that means I’ll be having a great summer this year. Neener, neener.
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I am really hoping for a long, hot summer. Last year’s summer was full of rain. It was cloudy here this Candlemas Day, so maybe we’ll have an early spring.
Lovely photos as ever karen. I think we have more snow than you do higher up away from the coast. Might try and blog the odd photo later! Hope you are warm and snug inside.
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Hi Karen, I am not laughing at your snow, it is beautiful! I love seeing it with the camellias in bloom and it makes the garden look magical. On our news report on TV they showed snow in London, complete with cars swerving. Where I live it is the same, so we are hoping for a quick spring arrival and a wonderful summer. Although long and hot is our norm, we need long, warm and regular rainfall, at night only, please.
Frances
Frances’s last blog post..Wait Nancy!*
I’ve never quite figured out our seasons. Our February days are frequently bright here near the coast, and our summers begin overcast, so often so that we have terms like “May gray” and “June gloom” to describe the phenomena. Maybe that’s just payment for sunny Candlemas days…
lostlandscape(James)’s last blog post..deciding on a small tree
Last year was the proof of that February snow saying, we had a fantastic summer & the best autumn in years. I guess that made all that snow worthwhile.
I would never laugh at your snow. I laugh instead at all of your reactions to the snow. It’s been very entertaining.
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Snow is magical – and I think a light dusting is so much more magical, because it melts and then you don’t have all the inconvenience of snow! Perhaps I am a snow philistine. Candlemas/St. Bridget’s and Groundhog Day definitely come from common ground. Perhaps there was some pagan holiday before that. In my area, Feb. 2 is about the time the grass turns green (it goes brown in summer) and the first early flowers come out. I would be very willing to trade a month or two of hot, dry summer for some coolness and rain: any takers?
You guys have lovely poetry. Here in the US we employ a ridiculous rodent (stupid gopher) to tell us about spring’s likely arrival. Like your methods better.
That camellia photo is a knockout!
The Other Karen
Karen’s last blog post..Long Live SAGBUTT!