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WEATHER

Jura village ‘looks like Venice’ after river burst its banks

The town of St Ursanne in the Jura is battling flood water for the second time this month after the river Doubs burst its banks on Monday night.

Published: 24 January 2018 12:28 CET
Updated: 24 January 2018 18:29 CET
Jura village ‘looks like Venice’ after river burst its banks
Floods in St Ursanne. Photo: Nicolas Paupe
The fire service and civil protection officers are working hard to pump water out of dozens of flooded cellars in the medieval city after residents woke up on Tuesday morning to find the river had invaded the town, reported Swiss media. 
 
 
The Doubs first burst its banks following storm Eleanor in January earlier in the month. 
 
Residents were once again knee-deep in flood water this week after heavy rain battered the area as part of the same weather front that brought heavy snow to the south of the country. 
 
“Today St Ursanne looks like Venice. We’re just lacking the gondoliers,” one resident told 20 Minutes on Tuesday. 
 
“Cellars, basements and ground floors are swimming in river water. To go out of the house you have to use a boat or an inflatable raft.”
 
 
Several roads are closed and a landslide occurred outside the village. 
 
The electricity supply was cut off for a time, and residents were asked to boil water to drink.
 
According to local radio, no one has been injured.
 

WEATHER

Will Switzerland be visited by ‘Ice Saints’ this year?

Ascension is not the only annual happening in the country in May, as Switzerland also ‘celebrates’ another 'chilling' event this month.

Published: 8 May 2024 14:20 CEST
Will Switzerland be visited by 'Ice Saints' this year?

From May 11th to the 15th, a meteorological event takes place each year in Switzerland.

It “observes”, though admittedly not on scientific basis, a centuries-old weather phenomenon called “Ice Saints”.

What exactly is it?

As its name suggests, it is related to saints, as well as ice and frost.

The saints in question are St Mamertus, St Pancras, St Servatius and St Boniface.

According to a weather lore, once these Ice Saints have passed through Switzerland in the middle of May, frost will no longer pose a threat to farmers and their land.

As the official government meteorological service MeteoSwiss explains it, “spring frosts have been a regular occurrence for centuries, giving rise to the traditional belief that a blast of cold air often arrives in the middle of May. Over time, this piece of weather lore became known as the Ice Saints.”

Fact versus myth

You may be wondering whether the Ice Saints lore actually has basis in reality.

Records, which date back to 1965 and originate from the Geneva-Cointrin, Payerne, and Zurich-Kloten weather stations, “clearly show that, over the long-term average, frost directly above the soil is only a regular occurrence up until the middle of April”, MeteoSwiss says. “After that, the frequency with which ground frost occurs progressively declines to almost zero by the end of May.”

“We can conclude, therefore, that there is no evidence in Switzerland to confirm the Ice Saints as a period in May when ground frost is more common.”

However, MeteoSwiss does concede that “ground frost is nevertheless a regular occurrence throughout May as a whole…having occurred at least once or twice in May every year, and in around 40 percent of the years there were more than two days in May with ground frost.”

What about this year?

MeteoSwiss weather forecast for the next seven days indicates that, this year too, no frost will be present on the ground in mid-May.

In fact, temperatures through much of Switzerland will be in double digits, reaching between 18C and 25C, depending on the region.

You can see what to expect in your area, here. 

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