St. Patrick’s Day Storms Fact or Fiction?

One doesn’t have to live on Prince Edward Island very long to realize that weather plays an important role in beginning a lot of conversations. By early March people start talking about the St. Patrick’s Day storm which is based on anecdotal evidence, and they will tell you that once we get this storm that winter in over as any snow after March 17^th won’t last very long. Any snowstorm between March 10^th and 20^th is typically labelled as a St. Paddy’s Day storm which is named after the patron saint of Ireland who died about 461 supposedly on March 17^th.

A search of available records has provided some interesting information about the frequency and occurrence of this Island tradition to confirm if this claim is based on solid fact.

Date	Storm Description	Source
March 18, 1765	Cloudy with snow, wind SSW	Samuel Holland
March 18, 1836	Snow from SSE. Wind changes to SW at 10am.	Daniel Hodgson
March 18, 1843	Still snows strong. Winds ENE. A good deal of snow falling.	Daniel Hodgson
March 17, 1856	Snowing some	Henry Cundall Diary
March 17, 1857	Raining and snowing	Henry Cundall Diary
March 17, 1862	Snowstorm continues from previous day.	L. C. Jenkins Diary
March 16, 1866	First thunder and lightning storm of the season, some thought it was a warning to the Fenians who were planning a raid to homes	Examiner, March 19, 1866
March 17, 1870	A snowstorm started at 10:00am	Guardian, Jan. 30, 1952
March 17, 1872	Major snowstorm, man named MacMillan died on ice on Hillsborough River. Stormed for 3 days.	Daily Examiner, Jan. 15, 1894
March 17, 1895	Trains all delayed due to storm. No ice boat crossing.	Daily Examiner, March 18, 1895
March 17, 1896	St. Patrick’s opened with a howling wind and snow, typical of St. Patrick’s	Impartial, March 26, 1896
March 17, 1901	Snow on railway between Piusville & Elmsdale within 8 feet of the top of the telegraph posts	Guardian, March 18, 1901
March 18^th, 1915	17.8 cm of snow at Charlottetown CDA. A total of 29.3 cm from 12^th to 15^th.	EC Historical Climate Data
March 16-17^th, 1916	35.5 cm of snow at Charlottetown CDA. On the 23^rd and 24^th an additional 71.5 cm .	EC Historical Climate Data
March 15, 1918	17.8 cm of snow at Charlottetown CDA	EC Historical Climate Data
March 14, 1923	17.8 cm of snow at Charlottetown CDA	EC Historical Climate Data
March 19-20^th, 1924	22.9 cm of snow over two days at Charlottetown	EC Historical Climate Data
March 14-15^th, 1925	25.4 cm of snow at Charlottetown CDA	EC Historical Climate Data
March 19, 1930	12.7 cm of snow at Charlottetown CDA	EC Historical Climate Data
March 18-19^th, 1931	27.9 cm of snow at Charlottetown CDA	EC Historical Climate Data
March 17, 1939	The annual St. Patrick’s Day storm tied up potato and turnip movement. There was 30.5 cm of snow on the 13^th and 2.5 cm on the 17^th.	Guardian, March 18, 1939, EC Historical Climate data.
March 17, 1943	Customary St. Patrick’s Day Storm	Guardian, March 18, 1943
March 16, 1949	Blizzard, no school, and very bad roads	WillScott Farm Diaries
March 17, 1955	A severe storm on St. Patrick’s Day covered the western part of PEI and made travelling impossible	Guardian, March 24, 1955
March 17, 1956	PEI was blanketed with 10 inches (25 cm) of snow whipped by 35 mph NE winds bringing PEI to a standstill	Guardian, March 19, 1956
March, 1961	A series of snowstorms 2 weeks prior to St. Patrick’s Day isolated many rural areas. 33.8 cm of snow from 14^th to 17^th at Charlottetown	Guardian, March 18, 2015. EC Historical Climate Data.
March 18, 1963	St Patrick’s Day play at Birchwood School in Charlottetown postponed due to storm. 38.3 cm of snow at Charlottetown CDA	Guardian, March 20, 1963. EC Historical Climate Data.
March 18, 1964	19.1 cm of snow at Charlottetown CDA	EC Historical Climate Data
March 11-17^th, 1967	A total of 59.4 cm of snow over this period	EC Historical Climate Data
March 15, 1975	There was 17.8 cm of snow at Charlottetown	EC Historical Climate Data
March 17, 1976	22.7 cm of snow at Charlottetown	EC Historical Climate Data
March 19, 1977	27.6 cm of snow at Charlottetown	EC Historical Climate Data
March 17, 1978	8 cm of snow at Charlottetown	EC Historical Climate Data
March 15, 1986	17.8 cm of snow at Charlottetown	EC Historical Climate Data
March 16-17, 1987	A ferocious 2-day snowstorm with 19 cm at Summerside, 31.3 cm at Charlottetown, and 31 cm Tignish.	Journal Pioneer, March 17, 1987; Guardian, March 18, 2015; EC Historical Climate Data.
March 18, 1989	There was 17.2 cm of snow at Charlottetown	EC Historical Climate Data
March 17-18, 1993	There was 28.4 cm of snow at Charlottetown	EC Historical Climate Data
March 15-17, 1999	There was 15.6 cm of snow at Charlottetown	EC Historical Climate Data
March 17, 2000	Winds of up to 100 kilometres-an-hour whipped over 21.6 centimetres of snow into whiteouts that made driving treacherous in Queens County.	Guardian, March 18, 2015.
March 17, 2003	9.8 cm of snow at Charlottetown	EC Historical Climate Data
March 13-16th, 2014	An early St. Patrick’s Day storm was forecast to bring snow, blowing snow and ice pellets. A total of 47 cm of snow fell the 5 days leading up the St. Patrick’s Day	Guardian, March 13, 2014; EC Historical Climate Data.
March 16, 2015	From March 15^th to 18^th, over 74 cm of snow fell at Charlottetown	EC Historical Climate Data.
March 17, 2020	A snowfall of 7 cm at Charlottetown	EC Historical Climate Data

The above table lists over 40 documented snowstorm events which happened on or within a few days of March 17^th. David Ross of Marshfield describes a severe 4-day snowstorm from March 14-17, 1872 in his diary, which shut down transportation of all kinds. Other severe storms are listed including the years 1916, 1955, 1961, 1987, 2000 and 2015. This provides sufficient justification for the long-held tradition as these storms are frequent enough to refresh memories of past storms during the last week of the winter season when people have a heightened anticipation about warmer weather ahead and a strong desire to be done with winter. This tradition may be in jeopardy due to climate change as temperatures gradually rise and the winter season shortens.