Bob Wade, Michael Klenk and Adam Nygren are gardeners on Temple Square, where every year they get the flowers ready for April Conference. The job has its perks. Every day when these guys go home, they smell good.

They work the dirt and shape the flowers so they'll be just right for general conference, when tens of thousands of visitors arrive from around the world.

But underneath it all, sometimes they wonder why, what for, what's the use.

It seems like it's always something.

This week, for instance, they planted a whole truckload of ranunculus, got them looking beautiful, right next to the tulips . . . and then it snowed.

Klenk looked at the fragile ranunculus, losing luster by the minute. "They're toast," he said.

No, as a matter of fact it doesn't always rain or snow on conference weekend.

But it usually does.

Of the 112 April church conferences held in Salt Lake City since 1888, 75 have received measurable precipitation. That's counting this one.

That is exactly 70 percent. Even Seattle should be impressed. Not to mention Ken Griffey Jr.

So what is it about conference weekend and all the precipitation? Is there some kind of divine intervention?

I called Bill Alder with the national weather service. Bill knows Utah weather like Barry Scheck knows DNA. I asked him, "Is this weather aberrational?"

"Not really," he said, "It's just spring in Utah."

Call a weatherman, clear the air.

The fact is, Alder pointed out, April is the wettest month of the year in the Salt Lake Valley, with an average precipitation accumulation of 2.12 inches. That is way out there in first place, ahead of March (1.91) and May (1.80).

March-April-May. Welcome to the rainy season.

Of the Salt Lake Valley's yearly average of 16.18 inches of precipitation, almost 40 percent of it falls in the spring. You can go clear through June, July and August and barely get more precipitation (2.6 inches) than you did in just one April.

For the record, July, with an average of 0.81 inches of precipitation, is the driest month of the year. They should call it Jul-dry.

Any day of the month in April in Salt Lake City, the odds are roughly seven out of 10 that you will get rain or snow.

I told this to Bob, Michael and Adam on Temple Square.

"Really?" they said as they debated whether to shake the snow off the cherry blossoms.

They were clearly more worried about the cherry blossoms than yearly statistical averages.

"Did Bill Alder say if it's going to freeze this weekend?" Adam asked.

Much more odds-defying than the precipitation that comes during April conferences is the precipitation that comes during October conferences.

October is not a particularly wet month. With an average of 1.44 inches, it ranks middle of the pack. And unlike April, which has steady precipitation throughout the month, October gets more precipitation toward the end than the first.

Yet, of the 110 conferences held since 1888 on the first weekend of October, 48 have been rained or snowed on. That's an impressive 44 percent.

One was canceled.

Not because of rain, however. Because of flu.

In all, then, 123 of the LDS Church's 222 general conferences have been associated with measurable precipitation. That's 55 percent.

So yes, when the Saints meet, the heavens do weep, speaking strictly from a meteorological standpoint. It's just a good thing they don't hold the meetings outside.

The smartest thing the church ever did was build that dome.

Send e-mail to benson@desnews.com, fax 801-237-2527. Lee Benson's column runs Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.