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The literal meaning is “to rain like during Jāņi (Midsummer festivities),” a holiday as important as Christmas, commonly associated with outdoors activities, during which heavy rain is expected.
[l]atviešiem jau ir teiciens — līst kā pa Jāņiem (..) [t]ie jau nebūtu nekādi Jāņi, ja nelītu lietus ― latvians have a saying after all — it's raining like during Jāņi (~ Midsummer festivities) it wouldn't be any Jāņi without rain[1]
[š]opavasar, kad Parīzē neierasti līst kā pa Jāņiem, šie divi “cilvēki kulisēs” sazvanās gandrīz vai piecas reizes dienā, lai pārliecinātos, “ka viss norit gludi” ― this spring, when unusually for Paris it is raining like during Jāņi, these two “insiders” are calling up each other almost five times a day to make sure that “everything is going smoothly”[2]
[ā]rā līst (..) "[k]ā pa Jāņiem", gribas sacīt, bet ir jūlija beigas (..) ― it's raining outside (..) "like during Jāņi" one wants to proclaim, it's the end of July though (..)[3]
Usage notes
Most often used in its third-person present indicative form līst kā pa Jāņiem.
References
^ Adolfs Stamguts (1999) Latvietis sabiedroto gūstā un trimdā, page 49
