Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

STORM

Lake Geneva storm victim was friend of Swedish royals

A woman who drowned during a violent storm on Lake Geneva in Saturday was a friend of the Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia, Swedish media have reported.

Published: 18 June 2019 20:39 CEST
Lake Geneva storm victim was friend of Swedish royals
A police speedboat rescue a boat capsized after a massive storm during the Bol d'Or sailing race on Lake Geneva. Photo: AFP

Media in the Scandinavian country named the woman as 68-year-old Ann-Christine Wallenberg.

Swedish tabloid Expressen said Wallenberg had known the Swedish royals since the 1980s and had remained in closed contact with them.

The paper said the Swedish king and queen had been informed of her death.

Read also: Watch – video shows wild storm on Lake Geneva

Wallenberg drowned in Lake Geneva when her sightseeing boat sank during a storm on late Saturday afternoon that brought heavy rain, hail and gale-force winds to pars of Switzerland.

Another man on the vessel was able to swim to another boat and set off flares, Geneva police said.

Three police boats and emergency services rushed to the scene. Police divers later retrieved Wallenberg’s body. 

She was taken to hospital in Geneva by Switzerland's Rega air rescue services where she was declared dead.

Wallenberg’s younger brother Stefan Magnusson told Expressen he suspected his sister was entangled in ropes as the boat capsized.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

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. 

SHOW COMMENTS