5 Things You Need to Know Today, Monday, April 1

Here are 5 pieces of information to make sure you're no Fool and to help you be the smartest person at your breakfast table.

1. Your 3-Day Local Weather Forecast:

• According to the NWs, there is a slight chance of showers between noon and 2pm, then scattered showers and thunderstorms after 2pm. Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 62. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming west 11 to 16 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
• Tonight Scattered showers, mainly before 7pm. Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly clear, with a low around 26. West wind 10 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 36 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
• Tuesday Mostly sunny, with a high near 41. Breezy, with a west wind 15 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 36 mph.
• Tuesday Night Mostly clear, with a low around 23. West wind 9 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 36 mph.
• Wednesday Mostly sunny, with a high near 43. Breezy, with a west wind 13 to 22 mph.
• Wednesday Night Mostly clear, with a low around 24.

2. Did You Know?: The traditions of April Fool's Day go back hundreds of years. In fact, Wikipedia credits a mis-copied famous piece of 14th century literature with locking down the date of April 1 as a day for trickery and foolishness.

"In Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1392), the "Nun's Priest's Tale" is set Syn March bigan thritty dayes and two.^[4] Modern scholars believe that there is a copying error in the extant manuscripts and that Chaucer actually wrote, Syn March was gon.^[5] Thus, the passage originally meant 32 days after April, i.e. May 2,^[6] the anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia, which took place in 1381. Readers apparently misunderstood this line to mean "March 32", i.e. April 1.^[7] In Chaucer's tale, the vain cock Chauntecleer is tricked by a fox."

3. It's Happening Today: Today begins National Public Health Week. As part of that, the Public Health Museum, located at the 365 East St., Tewksbury, will be offering free admission, April 2-6. The museum exhibits are open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

4. Reader Comment of The Day: "Who cares.....Dave is obviously representing all the ff's, so relieve them of their duties. Dave seems like the type to let your cat burn to prove his point, if they don't get what they want so......start fresh, new crew, new town friendly contract....take it or leave it." reader Jim, commenting on the Blog Post, "A Firefighter's Response to Doug Sears."

5. It's Happening Today. Part 2: Tonight is the night. Candidates for School Committee and the Board of Selectmen will be gathering at Tewksbury High School for the only debates of the election season. The school committee debate will begin at 7 p.m. with the Selectmen's Debate to follow at 8 p.m. You will not want to miss these. The event is sponsored by Tewksbury Patch and the Town Crier.