LEVEL 9 PELTING | Stinging rain
2020 | Wearin’ of the Green 35
CURRENTLY HAVE GREAT ANXIETY WRITING THIS.
“Don’t jinx it,” they say. “That’s bad luck, they say.”
Well, it’s still interesting so here we go.
Obviously, we always want a crystal-clear day, bright blue
skies, warm sunshine with a high temperature of around 75
degrees. That hasn’t always been the case, but mother nature
has blessed Baton Rouge with more remarkable days than not.
We had to dig deep into the Parade Group, WBRZ, The
Advocate and NOAA NCEI (national centers for environmental
quotes from the early years.
Of the 34 Wearin’ of the Green St. Patrick’s Day Parades,
21 of them haven’t had a drop of rain the day before, during
or after.
Record high temperatures for March 16th were set in 1996
(82), then set again in 2002 (87). On March 15, 2008 another
record high was set at 86 degrees.
1993 – Bitter cold for March in South Louisiana. This was
by far the coldest parade with a daytime high temperature
of 46. Snow fell in Baton Rouge the Friday night before the
parade. The Advocate wrote, “High winds buffeted Baton
Rouge Saturday as cold Canadian weather extended its visit to
the area.” The day after the parade Baton Rouge set a record
low of 30 degrees. Nationwide, the event was known as
“The 1993 Superstorm” or “The 1993 Storm of the Century.”
Three inches of snow fell in Mobile on parade day; 17 inches
in Birmingham. Parts of the Carolinas reported wind gusts
between 40 & 70mph.
More than 40 inches of
snow was reported in
parts of West Virginia.
Eleven tornadoes
touched down in Florida.
Baton Rouge: Sunny, dry and cold.
WEATHER REPORT
1993: Morning
of the parade,
Pat Shingleton,
Bruce Weber
LEVEL 1 SOFT DAY | Cloudy, might rain later
LEVEL 2 SPITTING | Periods of drizzle, mist
LEVEL 3 WETTING | More than a mist
LEVEL 4 ROTTEN | Cloudy, windy, light rain
LEVEL 5 PISSING | Rain
LEVEL 6 RAINING STAIR RODS | Heavy, fat rain, ruin good shoes
LEVEL 7 BUCKETING | Like a bucket of water
LEVEL 8 HOORING | Wipers on full
LEVEL 10 LASHING | Umbrellas don’t work
LEVEL 11 HAMMERING | Don’t go outside
I
CHANCE OF RAIN? EH, SOMETIMES…
BY MICHAEL SHINGLETON
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