Montreal has passed the point of no return. Days are longer. Temperatures are rising. Flowers are blooming and with them, the prospect of summer revelry bursts into vivid focus. But could a wet July dampen our outlook? That's what the Farmers' Almanac seems to suggest.

As Narcity Québec reports, the site's July weather forecast for Quebec and the Maritimes calls for successive periods of rain and storms with the only reliably nice weather at the very beginning and end of the month.

The Farmers' Almanac is not a scientific authority. Its forecasts are based on an undisclosed "formula that relies on many factors, including the Moon." But its folky projections are nonetheless fun and galvanize us for the season ahead.

Between July 1 and 7, almanac authors foresee "fair" weather. Things get messy thereafter, with "widespread showers," wind, thunderstorms and general wetness dominating the Quebec-Maritimes forecast for July 8 to 27.

"Pleasant weather" only reappears in the predictions for the end of the month, between July 28 and 31.

This July forecast seems to conflict with the almanac's earlier seasonal projections, which called for a "scorching, drier than normal" summer for Quebec.

For the record, Environment Canada data from 1981 to 2010 (the latest data set available) shows August has typically been the wetter month in Montreal, with an average of 94.1 millimetres of rainfall compared to July's 89.3.

In the same time period, the federal weather department recorded an average July daily maximum temperature of 26.3 C.

The Farmers' Alamanac forecast for August is slightly more encouraging, with more periods of "fair" weather.