Should we 'Beware the Ides of March' when it comes to dodging storms?
The Roman calendar is thought to have originally been based on the phases of the moon and the seasons. Each year began in March and ended in December, totaling 304 days. Shortly before his death, Julius Caesar introduced a calendar based on the Sun rather than the Moon. Today, the world uses the Gregorian calendar, which essentially has its roots in the Julian calendar, with adjustments made for leap year.
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"Beware the Ides of March." It’s a phrase we hear every year as meteorological spring begins to take hold, but is there any real cause for concern? After all, some of America's greatest storms usually form during this infamous period.
The phrase dates back to the times of Julius Caesar and is one of the most iconic sayings thanks to William Shakespeare's play.
As legend has it, a person who could foresee the future warned Caesar that danger loomed and advised him to "beware the Ides of March."
Under the ancient Roman calendar, the Ides referred to the full Moon of any month, which usually occurred between the 12th and 16th.
Unlike future versions of the calendar, the Roman calendar is believed to have originally been based on the phases of the Moon and the seasons.
Each year began in March and ended in December, totaling 304 days, according to experts from the University of Chicago.
Julius Caesar was assassinated by Roman senators on March 15, 44 BCE, which is why the saying "beware the Ides of March" is still associated with that infamous date.
Lydia, Caesar's wife admonishing Caesar not to go to the Senate on the ides of March, 44 B. C.
(Getty Images)
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According to historical experts, Caesar had been working with astronomers to reform the calendar system to something more similar to what is used today: a Sun-based system, rather than one based on the lunar cycle.
These reforms were implemented around 45 BCE, roughly a year before his death, and came to be known as the Julian calendar.
The revamped system had 365 days, with a leap year added every four years, based on the understanding at the time that it took 365.25 days for the Earth to orbit the Sun.
A person today might consider this advancement to be genius, but according to historians, this very innovation might have contributed to Caesar’s death.
The shift away from Roman traditions was just one of many reforms Caesar enacted that angered traditionalists and ultimately led to his assassination.
According to historians, the Roman Senate honored Caesar’s death by renaming the seventh month of the year from "Quintilis" to "Julius," which later became known as "July" with the rise of the English language.
The calendar system was used for more than 1,600 years until Pope Gregory XIII introduced the Gregorian calendar, which is still the system in use today.
The Julian calendar’s addition of an extra day in February every four years eventually caused the calendar to become too displaced from the seasons. To address this, a scientist by the name Aloysius Lilius devised a plan to use leap days only in years divisible by four, except for end-of-century dates, which must be divisible by a factor of 400.
The restrictions on leap days largely addressed the problems with the Julius system and helped keep the calendar more aligned with the planet’s orbit around the Sun.
Maison Carrée, an ancient Roman temple built around 4-7 AD and dedicated to Julius Caesar, the best preserved example of a Roman temple, Nimes, France.
(Sergi Reboredo/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images / Getty Images)
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‘Ides of March’ has infamous history with weather
The Ides of March coincides with the time of year when the transition from winter to spring occurs across North America.
March 15 has witnessed a number of significant weather events over the years, including the devastating "Storm of the Century" in 1993.
This record-breaking storm system produced heavy snowfall, flooding and wind damage, leading to the deaths of over 300 people and causing approximately $5 billion in damage.
Satellite image of the 1993 Superstorm
(NOAA)
The central pressure of the nor’easter was equivalent to that of a Category 3 hurricane, and it impacted more than 120 million residents across the eastern United States.
In 1938, an Ides of March tornado outbreak struck the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys, killing dozens of people.
Belleville, Illinois, outside of St. Louis, Missouri, appeared to be one of the hardest hit areas, with meteorologists estimating wind speeds of F4 strength.
And in 1941, one of the worst blizzards to ever affect the Upper Midwest triggered hurricane-force wind gusts and claimed 71 lives, according to the National Weather Service.
"Winds gusted to 75 mph at Duluth, Minnesota, and reached 85 mph at Grand Forks, North Dakota. Snow drifts twelve feet high were reported in north-central Minnesota," the NWS stated.
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