Today is the first day of April, and the phrase "April showers bring May flowers" warns students of a wet month ahead.

Meteorologists, however, say that simple phrase doesn't tell the entire story in State College.

"I don't know where that particular piece of folklore came from," said Todd Miner, a meteorologist with Penn State's Weather Communications Group.

Miner said that the precipitation in State College is evenly distributed throughout the year, and that "it just so happens that because conditions are getting warmer, that the flowers tend to bloom during May."

"Flowers are going to come out in May no matter how much rain you have in April," he said adding that the factor that determines flower growth is temperature, not rain.

Leaves start growing in this area at the end of April or in early May, he said.

Miner said unlike other regions, the State College area does not experience distinct wet and dry seasons.

In fact, April's average precipitation level of 3.37 is actually a dip between March's 3.52 inches and May's 3.84 inches.

Because of the movement of the jet stream, Los Angeles has rain only during the winter and parts of Florida are wet only during the summer.

Still, Paul Knight, instructor of meteorology, said an April with below normal precipitation will cause fewer flowers to bloom during the next month.

"In most areas, April tends to be a showery month. When there's cold air in the upper atmosphere, it makes the atmosphere unstable" and causes showers, said Lee Grenci, instructor of meteorology.

As the sun begins to heat the ground, air rises into the upper atmosphere. Although it cools on its way up, it is still warmer than the surrounding air and will continue to rise. Once it reaches about 20,000 feet from the surface, it forms cumuliform clouds.

These clouds then cause showers and thunderstorms, Grenci said.

In winter and early spring, low pressure systems create very large areas of precipitation, some as large as entire states.

By April, these storms are less frequent and weaker, so the precipitation becomes "more spotty and not as long-lived," he said.

Because the showers are more sporadic, it makes sense that some will hit State College and some will miss, he said.

This explains why the area's average precipitation levels are fairly consistent, he said.

The local weather is more complex than the proverb would lead one to believe.

"It's just a saying," said AccuWeather meteorologist Scott Homan.

"It's just natural for things to start growing."