Idiom:  March comes in like a lion

Is this the last snow of the winter? It was very warm all weekend and then I woke up to this. It’s the 17th… I thought March was supposed to go out like a lamb!

English idiom / proverb:   March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.

What does this proverb mean?

March “comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb” means that the weather is very cold at the beginning part of the month of March but the weather is warmer at the end of the month.

It is also possible to just say “in like a lion and out like a lamb.” It’s a shorter way to say the same thing.

We describe very cold weather in winter as “freezing cold” or “bitter cold.”  Click here to learn more weather expressions. 

Well, it’s the 17th of March, which it is smack in the middle of the month so maybe it’s not quite time for it to go out like a lamb.

I sure hope it’s out like a lamb because we have had a lot of snow this year and everyone is ready for spring weather!

Sentence Examples

— I really hope March will go out like a lamb this year. I'm dying for warm weather.

— It was really strange that March did not come in like a lion this year. We barely had any snow all winter and the temperatures were mild.

— Vermont typically has very cold winters with March coming in like a lion every year.

— Meteorologists have predicted that March will come in like a lion and go out like a lamb.

— Climate change has affected the weather so much that you never know if March will come in like a lion and go our like a lamb or whether it will be the opposite.

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