Top 10 facts about the weather

TODAY is World Meteorological Day which has been celebrated each year on March 23 since 1961.

Yakutsk, Russia, is probably the coldest city on earth. GETTY

Yakutsk, Russia, is probably the coldest city on earth.

1. The date was chosen to mark the anniversary of the founding of the World Meteorological Association on March 23, 1950. 

2. The patron saint against bad weather is St Medard who according to legend was once sheltered from the rain by a hovering eagle. 

3. The patron saints for good weather are St Clare of Assisi and St Agricola of Avignon. 

4. On July 10, 1997, a group of Belgian weather forecasters apologised to the country when the bright spells they had forecast did not happen. 

5. Research published in 1990 showed that most violent crime rates increase in hot weather, while property crimes are unaffected. 

6. On June 2, 1975, snow stopped play in a county cricket match at Buxton between Derbyshire and Lancashire. 

7. Julius Caesar is the only Shakespeare play that mentions neither rain nor snow. 

8. “When two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather,” (Samuel Johnson, 1758). 

9. “Conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative,” (Oscar Wilde). 

10. Yakutsk, Russia, is probably the coldest city on earth. The average January temperature is -40C. 

Would you like to receive news notifications from Daily Express?