SEEMS THE OLD BLOKES DID KNOW WHAT THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT

It was either March or April way back in the 1970s when I was working at the Forests Department that I remember one day talking to a colleague about the weather and when we could hopefully expect some cooler weather and rain.  He had worked in one of the country divisions of the department and said the old 'bushies' always used to say that "if it the weather doesn't break before Easter then it won't break until the second Sunday after Easter."

I don't think this has always been the case although in some years the weather has actually broken at Easter 'cos when we'd be holidaying in Mandurah I remember the camping area near the Estuary being inundated when it rained quite heavily.  This happened on several occasions so the weather definitely does sometimes break right on Easter.

Perhaps other years it has been difficult to define when this may have happened but I do know this year we began with an extremely hot April (we had a somewhat cooler than usual March) but as from the second Sunday after Easter our weather has begun to cool down somewhat.  We've not had the amount of rain we would like but at least the days have cooled down with no more temperatures in the 30Cs.

The temperatures in Perth since Easter had ranged from 27.3C to 37.3C with 9 days well above 30C.  Since Sunday 14th the temperatures have all been below 30C and we have days in the low 20s forecast from next Saturday onwards.  All we now need is for the nights to cool down and some of that rain we are being promised and most folk will be happy.

Obviously the moon has something to do with when Easter is set and it also affects the tides etc. on earth but it would seem the old chaps in the bush certainly did know what they were talking about.  It is a pity much of that bush knowledge has been lost to us.  As with old wives' tales of yore, people don't stop and listen to the old folk any more.