March is a weird time. One morning you're scraping thick, jagged ice off your windshield, and by the afternoon, you’ve got your window cracked to let in a breeze that actually smells like damp earth instead of frozen exhaust. It’s the seasonal equivalent of a mood swing. Most of us grew up hearing the old proverb that March comes in like a lion out like a lamb, but honestly, we rarely stop to ask if that’s actually true or just something our grandparents said to keep us from complaining about the slush.
It’s about balance.
If the month starts with a brutal, bone-chilling blizzard (the lion), the folk wisdom promises it’ll wrap up with gentle sunshine and budding tulips (the lamb). But if March starts off suspiciously warm? Well, the legend says you’d better brace yourself for a late-season snowstorm that’ll ruin your spring break. It’s a bit of weather-based karma. While it sounds like a cute rhyme for a preschool classroom, the history behind this phrase is actually rooted in a mix of ancient astronomy, old-world survival, and the very real meteorological chaos that happens when the seasons try to swap places.
The Stars Might Be the Real Reason
People love to check the 10-day forecast on their phones, but hundreds of years ago, you looked up at the stars to figure out if you were about to freeze. Some historians argue that the "lion" and the "lamb" aren't about the wind at all.
They’re about the constellations.
At the start of March, the constellation Leo (the Lion) is high in the eastern sky at sunset. It’s dominant. It’s fierce. By the time the month winds down, the constellation Aries (the Ram, or the lamb) is the one setting in the west. This astronomical shift happened every single year, regardless of whether it was snowing or 60 degrees outside. For an agrarian society, these celestial markers were more reliable than the actual temperature. Over time, the physical positions of Leo and Aries in the night sky likely merged with the literal weather patterns people were experiencing on the ground. It became a mnemonic device. It helped farmers track the transition from the dead of winter toward the vernal equinox without needing a printed calendar.
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Does the Science Actually Back This Up?
Short answer: No.
Longer answer: It’s complicated because March is fundamentally a transitional month. If you look at data from the National Weather Service or the NOAA, there is zero statistical evidence that a stormy start to March guarantees a peaceful end. Weather doesn’t work on a "fairness" scale. Nature doesn’t feel like it owes you a sunny day just because you survived a gale on March 1st.
In the mid-latitudes, March is a literal battleground. You have the cold, dense arctic air masses trying to hold their ground while the warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico starts pushing north. When those two fight? You get chaos. You get the "Lion." This is why March is notoriously the month for massive nor'easters and sudden tornado outbreaks in the South. The atmosphere is unstable. It’s trying to find an equilibrium that doesn't exist yet.
Think about the Great Blizzard of 1888. That hit in mid-March. It wasn't a lion at the start; it was a monster in the middle.
Meteorologists like to point out that "averages" are just a collection of extremes. While the jet stream is shifting, you can have a week of "lamb" followed by three days of "lion" and then a return to "lamb." The proverb simplifies something that is inherently unpredictable. But humans hate unpredictability. We want a pattern. We want to believe that if the beginning of the month is miserable, there is a reward waiting for us on the 31st. It’s psychological survival.
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A History of "Weather Lore"
We’ve been obsessed with predicting the weather since we first started planting seeds. The in like a lion out like a lamb saying appeared in various forms as far back as the 1700s. Thomas Fuller’s Gnomologia (1732) contains an early version of the sentiment.
But it’s not just an English thing.
- In Wales, they have similar proverbs about March winds.
- Across Europe, the "Borrowed Days" lore suggests that March borrows days from April to extend the cold.
- The Farmers’ Almanac has kept these traditions alive, blending them with more modern (though still debated) forecasting methods.
Before we had Doppler radar, we had observations. We watched how animals behaved. We watched the color of the sky. We noticed that March was the pivot point. If the "lion" didn't show up in March, it often meant a "Blackthorn Winter"—a cold snap in April that would kill off the new fruit blossoms. That was the real fear. A "lamb-like" March was actually terrifying for a farmer because it meant the inevitable cold was just being delayed, potentially ruining the entire year's harvest.
Why the "Lion" Still Scares Us
It's about the wind.
March winds are different. They aren't the steady, freezing gusts of January. They are erratic. They howl through trees that haven't grown leaves yet, creating a specific sound that feels predatory. That’s the lion’s roar. There’s a certain ruggedness to March. You’re tired of the grey. You’re tired of the heavy coats. When March "roars," it feels like a personal insult because we can already see the days getting longer. We can see the light, but we can't feel the heat yet.
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The Practical Reality of the March Pivot
If you’re trying to plan your life around this month, stop looking for lions. Start looking at the Jet Stream.
- The Equinox Factor: Around March 20th or 21st, the sun crosses the celestial equator. This is the official start of spring. This is the "lamb" period where the Northern Hemisphere finally starts getting more direct energy.
- Soil Temperature: Even if the air feels like a "lamb," the ground is usually still a "lion." It stays cold longer. This is why you shouldn't plant your tomatoes the second the sun comes out in mid-March. The frost is still lurking.
- Mud Season: In many parts of the U.S. and Canada, the transition from lion to lamb isn't pretty. It’s brown. It’s messy. It’s the "in-between" where the snow melts but the grass hasn't woken up yet.
Making the Most of the Chaos
Don't let the proverb fool you into a false sense of security. March is a month of preparation, not completion. Whether it’s a lion or a lamb outside, the best way to handle the month is to embrace the volatility.
Layer your clothing. This sounds basic, but it’s the only way to survive a month where the temperature can swing 40 degrees in six hours. Use wool base layers that breathe.
Check your gutters. The "lion" often brings heavy, wet snow or early spring downpours. If your gutters are still full of last autumn’s leaves, that "lamb" ending is going to involve a flooded basement.
Prune with caution. While it’s tempting to head out with the shears on the first "lamb" day, wait. Many shrubs and trees need that early March protection. Check specific horticultural calendars for your zone (like the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map) before you get too aggressive.
March is essentially a bridge. It’s not a destination. Whether it starts with a roar or a bleat, it’s going to be a bumpy ride. Accept that the "lion" is just the earth waking up, and the "lamb" is the reward for making it through another winter. Expect the unexpected, keep an ice scraper in the car until April, and don't trust a sunny morning until at least 2:00 PM.
The most important thing to remember is that the "lion" and the "lamb" are just two sides of the same coin: the inevitable, messy, and necessary arrival of spring. Stay flexible. The weather doesn't read the proverbs, but at least now you know why we keep repeating them.