I read somewhere that in rural England, a spout of unseasonably cold weather late in the spring is called blackthorn winter. Has any one of my English readers heard that expression?
I made this photography post almost exactly a year ago, on April 11 2019. The weather was quite cold at that time, too, but at least the skies were clear. I went on a walk in Myllysaari, a chain of islands jutting into Lake Vesijärvi in the morning.
We're having a cold spell in the middle of the spring. The afternoon maximums were around 10-15 C last week. Since Monday, it's been freezing all day. It will get warmer in the weekend.
In Finland where spells of wintry weather late in the spring, even in May (or under rare and extreme circumstances even in early June), are not unusual such periods are colloquially called takatalvi, literally "back winter". I started to wonder if the English language had expressions for the same thing. Of course, such expressions exist.
I read that in rural England, a cold spell of wintry weather late in the spring is called "blackthorn winter". Are any of my English readers familiar with that term? The same Wikipedia article I got my information from says that in Midwest and Southern North America the term is "blackberry winter". The idea in those is to name the unseasonably cold snap after whatever is normally blooming at the time. Other names include "dogwood winter," “whippoorwill winter,” "locust winter," and “redbud winter.”
What about other languages spoken in countries with distinct four seasons? Sweden has almost exactly the same climate as we do. What is takatalvi called in Sweden? What about Finland Swedish? Norwegian? Russian? Estonian? Lithuanian? Latvian? Danish? German? Polish? Other European languages? Are any Korean, Chinese or Japanese people reading this? Do you have a term for a cold snap in the middle of a warm spring?
Those of you who don't live in temperate climates must have names for bouts of unseasonable weather. Please tell me what you've got. :)
Anyway, here are the pictures I took in Myllysaari this morning.
Myllysaari is the last one of a chain of small islands a short distance off the shore of Lake Vesijärvi.
I met a couple of old guys and chatted with them about geography for a while. They were so knowledgeable when it comes to the ice age and how it shaped the landscape that I had to ask if they knew so much about this topic because of their profession or hobbies. They told me it was because of both. They were both retired teachers and both had served as headmasters in several schools in the city.
The melting of the lake ice starts from the shores. That's because the ice reflects so much of the sunlight whereas the ground absorbs it and is warmed by the sun much more than the ice. In the autumn, the reverse happens and the shores freeze over first because of the stored thermal energy of the water.
Myllysaari itself, the last of the chain of islands.
The retired teachers had come to the same conclusion as I regarding absence of ice fishers on the lake. They had either stayed home or had already fallen through the ice.
The building is, you guessed it, a sauna.
I wonder what that rusty piece of metal sticking out from the ground is. It looks like an ice drill.
It may be hard to believe now but it is entirely possible that in about 5-6 weeks the afternoon maximum temperature can be close to 30 C. The beaches won't be packed because of the still cold water but the pubs at the harbour and elsewhere serving beer outdoors will be.
Speaking of the harbour, it's straight ahead over the lake.
The building is a warehouse owned by a boat club.
