The nature watcher expects a winter with more permanent snow until after Christmas

“Someone could argue that the proverb applies. When the leaves don’t fall for a long time, the bad winter creeps in,” said Kovařík, who has collected roughly twelve hundred folk proverbs and sayings over the past thirty years. “However, the element of drought came into play when the vegetation was stunted and did not develop,” the nature observer pointed out.

“That’s why everything is shifted by a month, but honestly, thanks to that we saved firewood, so the shift is actually pleasant,” Kovařík explained.

According to him, the deer are still on the ridges of the Ore Mountains, because the rutting season is still going on. “When they run down in about two weeks, snow could come to the highest elevations,” estimates the nature observer.

According to him, migratory birds, including starlings, usually fly away from Šindelova, which is approximately six hundred meters above sea level, in July, and swallows at the end of August. “This year, however, the departure was delayed,” said Kovařík.

“So pay attention to that, because even the beginning of winter at six hundred meters, which starts here with snow on average on November 5, so this year it doesn’t look like it should be the same now,” he added. “This year, even the snowy escapades at the end of September on Klínovec (1244 m) were missing,” he reflected on the forecast.

“When we look at nature, it looks like a boring winter average. It looks like the snow should be more stable at 700 meters above sea level, and lower down snow will alternate with rain,” predicts Kovařík.

“But I definitely want to say that we can certainly rely on the Christmas topping – it is clear every year. Only after Christmas should the snow be more permanent,” he stated, adding that then the snow should last even in lower elevations for a whole week in one piece.

“But I certainly wouldn’t make a science out of it in the sense that we’re in for an apocalyptic Siberian winter. No way, but those episodic inputs of snow and frost can be here,” noted Kovařík.

In particular, according to him, winter should take over nature in January and should last at least until mid-February. “However, the beginning of the winter season will be warmer. It looks like we can cut November off the calendar as far as winter is concerned,” he exaggerated.

“Cats are furred and chickens feathered as they should be, albeit belatedly. It’s the same with acorns and rowanberries. Somewhere in the republic they may not be there at all, because they froze in the spring, but then the weather in the coming winter cannot be predicted from this,” pointed out the nature observer, according to whom a large number of acorns and rowan trees were born where this did not happen.

“I conclude from this that snow escapades could take place, but again mainly at higher altitudes,” he noted, adding that there should be plenty of precipitation during the winter, but the question is how much of snow or rain. “It should stop in February,” he added.

“Onions, if I don’t buy them in a store imported from Belgium, are well wrapped. Wasps have a lot of cellulose layers ready for the winter, and bees are also pretty well waxed. And the badger I caught in the garden also had good fur,” concluded Kovařík, adding that this means that we will see winter.