Weatherwatch: Flaming June – a painting not a forecast

How a popular Victorian painting became a misleading catchphrase for June weather – rarely flaming, and generally unsettledThe expression “Flaming June” is beloved by headline writers, implying that the month traditionally brings tropical warmth. However, the phrase is not directly connected with the weather.Flaming June is the title of Sir Frederic Leighton’s 1895 painting of a woman in an orange dress sleeping under a canopy in the summer heat. Leighton was thoroughly a