19 June Weather Lore Sayings About Rain and Harvest
If June is wet, will September be dry? Check out some of these weather lore sayings for the month of June. How many of these do you know?
Quick Reference
- What this is: 19 traditional June weather lore sayings, what each is meant to predict, and how it lines up with modern almanac reading.
- Headline rule: A wet June sets up a dry September. A cold wet June spoils the rest of the year. A damp warm June does the farmer no harm.
- June saint days to watch: St. Medard (June 8), St. Barnabas (June 11), St. Vitus (June 15), St. Prottis (June 19), Midsummer (June 24), St. Peter and St. Paul (June 29).
- Reversal sayings: The hottest June day predicts the coldest February day. A wet June predicts a dry September.
- Best companion read: The Almanac Long-Range Forecast and Gardening Calendar.
Here are some fun weather lore sayings about June. How many of these do you know? Read them out loud, test them against the June you are watching, and tell us which ones still hold up where you live.
Weather Lore Sayings For The Month of June:
- If June is sunny, the harvest will come early.
- In June, when there is no dew, it indicates rain.
- A cold and wet June spoils the rest of the year.
- June, damp and warm, does a farmer no harm.
- A good rain in June sets all in tune.
- The north wind in June blows in a good rye harvest.
- An early harvest is expected when the bramble blossoms early in June.
- When it is hottest in June, it will be coldest in the correlating days of the following February.
- A wet June makes a dry September.
- If on the 8th of June it rains, it foretells a wet harvest.
- If it rains on the feast of St. Medard (June 8th), it will rain forty days later; but if it rains on St. Prottis (June 19th), it will rain for the next forty days.
- Rain on St. Barnabas’ Day (June 11) is good for grapes.
- If St. Vitus’s Day (June 15) be rainy weather, it will rain for thirty days together.
- If Midsummer Day (June 24) be ever so little rainy, the hazel and walnut will be scarce; corn smitten in many places; but apples, pears, and plums will not be hurt.
- Cut your thistles before St. John (June 24), and you will have two instead of one.
- If it rains on June 27th, it will rain for seven weeks.
- If it rains on St. Peter’s Day (June 29), the bakers will have to carry double flour and single water; if dry, they will carry single flour and double water.
- Rain on Peter and Paul (June 29) will rot the roots of the rye.
- Calm weather in June sets corn in tune.
Three Buckets the June Sayings Fall Into
- Saint-day rain rules. St. Medard, St. Prottis, St. Barnabas, St. Vitus, Midsummer, and St. Peter and Paul each carry a forty-day or thirty-day rain trigger. The folk reading is that rain on the feast day extends through the harvest. The rules came from European farms where a single wet hay-cut could ruin a year.
- Reversal sayings. The hottest day in June lines up with the coldest day the following February. A wet June trades with a dry September. Old farmers read June and December as a paired set, the way modern climatology reads ENSO phases.
- Crop-economy sayings. Bramble in early bloom signals an early harvest. North wind makes a good rye crop. Calm weather sets corn in tune. These are not really weather predictions. They are crop-yield observations dressed in weather language.
June Across the United States and Canada
| Region | Typical June shape | Lore that fits best |
|---|---|---|
| Northeast (US) | Late frost gone, peak strawberry, big thunderstorm pattern | St. Vitus rain rule, calm-weather corn rule |
| Midwest + Great Lakes | Cold wet starts, severe-weather peak | St. Medard 40-day rain rule, “spoils the rest of the year” |
| South (US) | Hot humid, frequent afternoon storms | “Hottest June, coldest February” reversal, June 27 seven-weeks rain |
| Mountain West | Late snow at altitude, fast melt, dry valleys | “In June with no dew” rule, north-wind rye saying |
| Pacific Northwest | Long wet shoulder season, coastal fog | “Wet June, dry September” reversal |
| Southern Canada | Late thaw, short growing window, summer solstice peak | Midsummer Day rain rule, calm-corn rule |
Do These Sayings Hold Up?
Some yes, some no, some only in the place they were written. The rain-on-St-Medard 40-day rule turns up in old French records of bad hay years, and matches a stalled North Atlantic pattern in some seasons. The reversal sayings are no better than a coin flip on a single year, but the pattern emerges across decades the way long-range forecasters expect cycles to.
The National Weather Service publishes its monthly outlooks at the Climate Prediction Center. We pair the lore with our own Long-Range Weather Forecast and the Gardening Calendar so the modern reader has a running scoreboard. No single signal carries the whole forecast, but stack three together and a season starts to take shape.
Other June Signs to Watch
- Fireflies showing up in big numbers around the summer solstice.
- Birds flocking earlier than usual at the suet feeder.
- Heavy dew through the second week, with no rain.
- Bee swarms held early before the longest day.
- The first cicada song before midsummer.
For a deeper look at the June sky and harvest signals, see our explainers on June Best Fishing Days and June’s Full Strawberry Moon.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is June weather lore actually accurate?
Some of it tracks well. The St. Medard rain-for-forty-days rule shows up in old French farm records. Reversal sayings about wet June and dry September emerge in long-running data sets. Treat the lore as one signal, alongside the long-range forecast and the Climate Prediction Center outlook.
What is St. Medard’s Day?
St. Medard is a French saint whose feast day on June 8 is the day folk wisdom uses as a 40-day rain trigger. If it rains on St. Medard, the saying goes, expect rain again forty days later. Rain on St. Prottis (June 19) extends rain through the next forty days.
Why is Midsummer Day important?
Midsummer Day, June 24, is the feast of St. John the Baptist and the traditional midpoint of the growing season in the northern hemisphere. Rain on Midsummer was read as a sign of poor hazel and walnut crops, smitten corn in some places, but no harm to apples, pears, or plums.
What does the bramble blossom tell us about harvest?
Bramble (wild blackberry) blooming earlier than its usual late June peak signals an early ripening season for the rest of the field. Modern phenology research shows similar timing relationships between hedgerow species and main crop yields.
Should I plan farming or gardening by June lore?
Use the lore as a nudge, not a planting calendar. Combine it with your local frost-date map, soil temperature, and the Almanac’s Gardening Calendar for the actual timing of planting and harvest tasks.
Where do these June sayings come from?
Most are British, French, German, and Irish farm rhymes that came over with settlers. The Farmers’ Almanac has carried versions of them since 1818, paired with the math-based long-range forecast that is the publication’s distinct contribution.
Can a wet June really mean a dry September?
Sometimes. Atmospheric blocking patterns in early summer can flip the September pattern in parts of North America. The relationship is real but inconsistent year to year. Stack the saying with a forecast before you bet a hay-cut on it.
Tell Us
Do any of these June weather lore sayings ring true where you live? Tell us which ones your grandparents swore by, and any local sayings we missed. Comment below and we will fold them into the next round.
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This article was published by the Staff at FarmersAlmanac.com. Any questions? Contact us at questions@farmersalmananac.com.
- Farmers' Almanac Staff
- Farmers' Almanac Staff
- Farmers' Almanac Staff
- Farmers' Almanac Staff
A middle Tennessee saying: A dry June will scare you to death. A wet June will starve you to death.
Interesting! We love hearing these colloquial sayings!
For several years now,,we’ve had a wet spring and well into June. Then,,it got hot and got dry and drier…in July when we needed it the most. Veggie garden grew well until we had to water it ourselves….then things began to shrivel or get stunted.
give me that natural rain the real water to make things grow