What is the real truth of the Frost myth?

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What are Ice Saints?

Late frost is a nightmare for farmers and hobby gardeners: it kills young shoots and causes yield losses. For this reason, ice saints are especially feared. This is the period between May 11 and May 15 when there is said to be an increased threat of ground freezing, and this is after a period when temperatures were already mild.

Ice Saints are a folk belief dating back to the Middle Ages and are said to haunt Europe every year. The period coincides with the name days of Mamertus, Pancratius, Servatius, and Boniface. “Cold Sophie” continues on May 15 as the last of the saints. This day is especially important for farmers: after the ice saints, frost on the ground should no longer pose a threat to the harvest.

• Mamertus, Bishop of Vienna – May 11
• Pancratius, early Christian martyr – 12 May
• Servatius, Bishop of Tongeren – May 13
• Boniface, early Christian martyr – May 14
• Sophia, first Christian martyr and mother of three blessed virgins – May 15

What’s wrong with your legend?

According to the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology, the Eisheiligen rule cannot be verified by series of measurements. Ground frost is now rare in ice saints, so they belong more to the fairy tale realm.

According to meteorologists, even a glance at ancient literature shows that the absence of ground frosts in the Ice Saints from May 11 to 15 has been known for over 100 years. Mammertus, Pankratius, Servatius, Bonifatius and Kalte Sophie thus contradict the so-called ancient agricultural experience in the light of science.

MeteoSwiss has shown that even available data, based on ground level measurements since 1965 at Payerne VD, rarely show ground freezing. On a long-term average, ground frost occurs regularly until mid-April. Then the frequency decreases. From May 1 to May 25, ground frost occurs on 10 percent of the days. There is a slightly higher frequency between May 14-16 and May 22-24.

Where does the Ice Saint legend come from?

As MeteoSwiss writes, the tradition probably comes from the Middle Ages, from the time before the Gregorian calendar reform of 1582. With the calendar reform, the name days of the ice saints also changed. But this was not taken into account. Actually, the ice saints should start on May 19.

Sheep cold is the next horror date

The next “shaking date” for farmers and folk believers is the cooling of the sheep in mid-June. However, unlike the Ice Saints, a true weather phenomenon is cold weather, which was regularly recorded until the mid-20th century.

The name has nothing to do with freezing sheep. In mid-June, woolly animals usually go to the Alps; they just stood there in the snow in cold weather.

Ice Saints in Switzerland 2023

Spring is finally here! At least until the weekend. It’s up to 25 degrees on Thursday. The reason for this is the high pressure area that expanded in Europe and reached Switzerland on Wednesday. From Friday and with its weekend outlook, bad weather will affect Switzerland. like the weather Ice saints are unpredictable.

Source : Blick