Ashley NC: The "Ruling Days" are tied in with a tradition called Old Christmas, which is Jan. 6, or "12 days from the Christmas they celebrate today," is the last of a group of "ruling days." The weather that occurs on the 12 days between Dec. 25 and Jan. 6 rules the weather for the rest of the year, with each of those days corresponding to a month on the calendar. And "Old Christmas" is the last of those. See an interesting interview about this here: http://www.thesylvaherald.com/ruralite010302.htm

Here is a link that might be useful: Sylva Herald -

Thank you so much terry7321 for the info. I knew it was around Christmas but I thought it may have been Dec. 20th which would be 12 days until Jan. 1st. Thanks for clearing this up. I plan to keep track of the weather each ruling day, and over the coming year, see how close the weather on the ruling days matches each month.
Thanks again!

My Grandmother always observed the ruling days beginning on Christmas Day. We would write them down as general observances of the weather and then track them throughout the year. I can't say they are absolute, but it is good fun and a way to pass on a family tradition.
Search for other weather predictors like counting heavy morning fogs (indicates heavy snow in winter), wooly worm colors and the time of year that katydids begin to call (90 days until the first frost). Some are more accurate than others but it never hurts to observe and pay attention to your climate changes. You are right, we do lose the knowledge of these things as older family passes away. I didn't know that it synced up with Epiphany, I just knew when we counted the days.

My mother used to do this, but has not in several years. Her memory is not what it used to be. I remember those days being between Christmas and Old Christmas. I think I will keep track this year as well. Thanks for bringing up an old tradition. I also remember that my MIL always planted by the Farmer's Almanac. I bought one for this year and gave it to Mother, but I don't think she knows where it is. I will buy two more and give her one and I'll keep one on my side of the house. I do know that my MIL always wanted to plant her Irish potatoes on Good Friday. She always made sure that the stem piece was not used in the planting. Her brother said it would cause the potato beetles to be worse. (He claimed to have experience with that piece of information.)

Are you keeping track? January 1=July's ruling day. Clear, sunny, unusually warm here.

Ashley, Jan from Slapout, AL (20 miles north of Montgomery) and I from Hueytown, AL (12 miles SW of B'ham) both saw your questions about the Ruling Days. We have compiled data for our two locations. Jan is bout 75 miles south east from me. Here is what we found.

Hueytown, AL 12 miles SW of Birmingham financial district - Terry

Date.......ActualTemp.......Average .....Deviation % Month
12/26......51/25............54/33........-5%/-24.......Jan
12/27......52/24............54/33........-3.7%/-27%....Feb
12/28......56/29............54/33........+3.7%/+12%...March
12/29......64/35............53/33........+20.7%/+6%....April
12/30......65/49............53/33...... +22.6%/+48.5%..May
12/31......69/51............53/33...... +30%/+54.5%....June
01/01......71/50............53/33.......+33.9%/+51.5%..July
01/02......74/53............53/33...... +39.6%/+60.6%..Aug
01/03......74/53............53/33...... +39.6%/+60.6%..Sep
01/04......72/53............53/33...... +35.8%/+60.6%..Oct
01/05......65/53............53/32...... +22.6%/+65.6%..Nov
01/06......67/48............53/33...... +26.4%/+45.4%..Dec

Slapout, AL 15-20 miles North of Montgomery, AL - Jan

January~12-26(Sunny, 56
February~12-27(sunny, 60
March~12-28(Sunny, 60
April~12-29(Sunny, 68
May~12-30(Sunny, 69
June~12-31(Partly cloudy, 71
July~1-1(Sunny, 75
August~1-2(Sunny/Partly cloudy, 78
September~1-3(Sunny, 78
October~1-4(Sunny, 74
November~1-5(Partly cloudy,76
December~1-6(Rainy, low 60s

The average deviation for highs from Dec. 26 - Jan. 6 has been an incredibly warm average of 65 degrees or an average of 22.6 % above average.

The average deviation for lows from Dec. 26 - Jan. 6 has been an incredibly warm average of 43.6 degrees or 32.4% above average.

If there is any veracity to the Ruling Days, then the rest of January will have to be extremely cold to negate the warm, early days of January. It looks like January through November will be dry. We had only one day with rain. March through December will be warmer than usual. I hope the percentage above normal does not correlate to summer temps but is only indicative of warmer or cooler. If there is a correlation between the percentage, the summer would have to be about 15-20 degrees higher than normal. That would be many days in June, July and August at 103*-105* (*=degrees). I used a base of 90 degree highs x 1.20 = 108*. I used 20% because it was the lowest percentage over normal (12/29/03). Our normal highs are usually 93*. If it also correlates to rainfall, we will be dry as a chip. How did your weather compare to ours. Check www.wunderground.com to get your weather history and let us hear from you.

Terry

TSmith2579,
I'm at work at the moment and don't have my calendar where I've made my notes but I'll post tomorrow with what I've seen here in NC. On Dec. 26 we had about 4-5 inches of snow and it never got above freezing. Lately, it's been in the 70s. I'll post tomorrow. Thanks!

I used www.wunderground.com to get the stats. The "reached" temps are the highs I actually saw. It went from very cold and snow/ice to very warm and clear. Looks like a dry hot summer and fall. We're going to need a dramatic change for January to pull off the very cold temps with snow and ice.

ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂActual Mean TempÂÂÂ..Average Max TempÂ......Conditions
Dec. 26, 2004Â..32 °F / 0 °CÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ.51 °F / 10 °CÂÂÂÂÂ.Snow and Ice
Dec. 27, 2004ÂÂ.30 °F / -1 °CÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ50 °F / 9 °CÂÂÂÂÂÂClear
Dec. 28, 2004ÂÂ.28 °F / -2 °C (reached 39 F)Â52 °F / 11 °CÂÂÂÂÂÂClear
Dec. 29, 2004ÂÂ.40 °F / 4 °C (reached 53 F) Â53 °F / 11 °CÂÂÂÂÂÂClear
Dec. 30, 2004ÂÂ.48 °F / 8 °C (reached 60 F) Â51 °F / 10 °CÂÂÂÂÂÂOvercast moving to Clear
Dec. 31, 2004ÂÂ.47 °F / 8 °C (reached 62 F)Â52 °F / 11 °CÂÂÂÂÂÂClear
Jan. 1, 2005ÂÂÂ55 °F / 12 °C (reached 69 F)Â56 °F / 13 °CÂÂÂÂÂÂMisting moving to Clear
Jan. 2, 2005ÂÂÂ55 °F / 12 °C (reached 69 F) Â53 °F / 11 °CÂÂÂÂÂÂClear
Jan. 3, 2005ÂÂÂ55 °F / 12 °C (reached 69 F) Â50 °F / 9 °CÂÂÂÂÂÂ..Clear
Jan. 4, 2005ÂÂÂ64 °F / 17 °C (reached 75 F) Â52 °F / 11 °CÂÂÂÂÂÂClear
Jan. 5, 2005ÂÂÂ61 °F / 16 °C (reached 71 F) Â51 °F / 10 °CÂÂÂÂÂÂClear
Jan. 6, 2005ÂÂÂ64 °F / 17 °C (reached 73 F)Â.51 °F / 10 °CÂÂÂÂÂÂClear

We'll just have to wait and see!