It's a sign from God...

When I started out on my run tonight, the sun was shining but before I'd even completed the first 500m it was hammering down with rain. Within minutes of that downpour I was wiping the rain off my sunglasses because the sun was ablaze again and shining in my eyes. Next thing, it's both dazzlingly sunny and raining heavily. This weather is (to say the least) a little strange and it's sometimes referred to as the Devil is beating his wife.

At least he wasn't gnawing on my hip. Tonight was my first run back at my usual 5km in about three weeks. I've not run that distance since I hurt my hip running around the barrage with my mate, Andy, from Bristol. My running since that time has been a leisurely 3km three times a week so it was good to get back into the old routine. Furthermore, not a twinge of the hip was felt throughout. Twinge ye not! Somebody up there likes me...

So where does such a bizarre phrase as the Devil is beating his wife as an alternative term for a sunshower come from? Well I Googled the phrase and got the usual reliable and solid Wikipedia article. The article explains a number of alternative terms for a sunshower but does not really tackle the etymology of the phrase in question. There are terms such as a monkey's wedding and a jackal's wedding to describe this weather condition along with a hyena's giving birth and witches are combing their hair. The only real consensus seems to be they all probably originated as myths that try to explain this unlikely mix of seemingly opposite weather conditions.

By far the best answer was thrown up by Yahoo Answers where sharpie08 asks,

I grew up in south ga. and i've always been told that when it's raining but also sunny outside that the devil is beating his wife. Where did this originate from?

To which the Best Answer given by red_kidney_beans is:

I think it means that God is crying. It rains when bad things are about to happen and that is a sign from God. Not always but sometimes. My pastor attended a wedding where it rained and he said "this is a bad sign" and one month later, the husband murdered the bride.

If you've recently been to a wedding where the weather wasn't tip top, you might want to pass this on...