The temperature in Prague today © Ricky Yates
My sincere apologies for the absence of a fresh blog post for over three weeks. It isn’t as though there is a lack of things to write about – quite the reverse. July 2015 has been far busier than than my previous Julys in Prague and I’ve got at least four prospective posts to compile. But the real problem has been the weather. In the words of Cole Porter and best known for being sung by Ella Fitzgerald, ‘It’s too darn hot!’
Sybille frequently describes the summer weather pattern in Prague as being pleasantly warm, followed by getting hotter, then much hotter, before there is a major heavy thundery downpour and the temperature returns to being pleasantly warm. After that, the same cycle resumes. But this year, especially since the beginning of July, the weather has been very hot and sticky with little or no relief and hardly any rainfall. According to news reports I read today, river levels and ground water levels in the Czech Republic are very low and the prevailing conditions are being described as a drought – the worst the country has experienced since 2003.
The weather has made even fulfilling my regular duties, a tiring exercise. As a result, rather than sitting down and compiling a coherent blogpost, all I’ve wanted to do each evening is either sit on the balcony and try to recover with a cool glass of wine, or head to the bedroom and lie down, with a total absence of the need of our duvet!
Today has almost certainly been the hottest day of the year so far. I took the photograph at the beginning of this post, of the clock and thermometer in my car, when I returned this afternoon, from conducting a wedding at Château Mcely, about seventy kilometres outside Prague. The thermometer actually reached thirty-eight degrees at one point but I was driving at the time and was therefore unable to photograph it. Currently my black clerical shirt is being washed in our washing machine, to remove a whole series of white sweat stains with which it had become decorated whilst I was officiating today.
According to the BBC weather forecast, we are promised some rain and reduction in temperature this coming weekend. But previous promises of rain and reduced temperatures have failed to materialise. As my wife often ironically comments, she doubts whether the Prague weather actually reads the BBC forecast 🙂
I do promise to start blogging properly once again, very soon, providing the Prague weather finally manages to return to something nearer to normality for July.
Yes, this summer has bit a bit miserable, of course, living right in the city doesn’t help. However, Michael and I escaped the last couple days with a visit to Loket, which is a bit more in the mountains. It even rained some after a couple bursts of wind gusts that sent things flying! We were eating outside at the time, and everyone had to get up and try to salvage items blowing off the table; even the carafe of olive oil/vinegar fell at my feet and broke into a jillion pieces! The rain was such a delight, that I almost wanted to dance naked! Now, that would have been a sight, so glad I refrained! (SO was Michael!)
Pleased to know you’ve managed to escape the heat, Karin, and even found some rain! It being the Czech Republic, nobody would have batted an eyelid if you had danced naked 😀
Hi Ricky,
My wife Catherine and I were in Krakow for a few days last week and it was equally hot – much too hot for these two Irish people. 😉 On one occasion we got caught in a sudden thundery downpour while waiting at a tram stop – the rain was hotter than our hotel room shower. At present I am home watching my garden being lashed by heavy rain and strong wind and the temperature is a more ‘normal’ 14 degrees. Regards from the cool Irish Midlands.
Hi Sean,
My sincere sympathies, Sean! Fortunately for us, the promised rain & serious drop in temperature, finally arrived last Saturday 25th morning. Thunderclaps woke us at 05.30! It’s now in the low twenties Celsius and the atmosphere is much fresher. I do hope the weather didn’t totally ruin your enjoyment of Krakow. We are planning to visit the city as part of our Polish holiday in October.
Not at all Ricky, it is a beautiful city with a fascinating history. Perhaps a little too many ‘city tour’ and ‘boat trip’ touts and such people in the Rynek Glowny and around Wawel Castle but we found the Irish language an excellent deterrent to their best efforts! I’m sure Welsh would be equally effective. 🙂 We did the usual touristy things and then wandered the ‘normal’ city by bus, tram and foot (our favourite part of a holiday) seeing the ordinary people and daily life. This day last week we visited Auschwitz/Birkenau and were appalled and horrified and reduced to tears. I defy anyone to go there and come away with bigotry or hatred in their hearts towards any of their fellow humans.
So glad your hot weather has broken for a while, Ricky. John and I don’t do heat very well and our couple of days at 35+ were quite enough for us. Mind you we’ve now gone from the sublime to the ridiculous, with the temperature today in the very low teens Brr!
So am I glad that the hot sticky weather is over, Perpetua – at least for the time being. Currently it’s around 21-22 degrees with a pleasant breeze – ideal weather so far as I’m concerned. Like you & John, I don’t do 30+ degrees days very well either. However, I do sympathise with you regarding your current temperature. Hardly late July weather for Northern France 🙁
Czech Republic is so sneaky this year. At the end of July when returning from Greece, it was a pleasant 25 degrees that day and I was so relieved. Then a few days later…. back to the high 30’s 🙁 Now I remember why I usually take a holiday in August. Oh well. Hope you’re getting through the heat wave okay! Trying to eat all the cold meals I can remember how to make and up the water consumption…
Hi Cynthia – this is our seventh summer in the Czech Republic & by far the hottest we’ve experienced. You returned to the CR, from your honeymoon, just when the temperature had dropped to a more reasonable level but, as you say, it’s gone back up again & today is stiflingly hot & sticky, as bad if not worse than the day I wrote this post. I’m certainly upping my water consumption, along with my beer consumption 🙂
[…] half of September will have passed without anything being published either. My two excuses are the very hot weather that we experienced during nearly all of both summer months, together with my hospitalisation at […]