10 July is considered, especially in Austria, much as Seven Sleepers Day in June is elsewhere, to be particularly important for the weather in the weeks ahead.
The traditional saying goes: "If Seven Brothers is a rainy day, it will rain for another seven weeks afterwards." As there is currently hardly any sign of rainfall anywhere in Europe, the following proverb is more likely to apply: "If the seven brothers bask in the sun, seven weeks of bliss will follow."
But seeing the current extremely sunny weather with a tendency towards a heatwave as a "blessing" is now proving difficult, not only for people working in agriculture. The drought is increasingly being felt in many places.
At the moment many people are instead yearning for cooler temperatures, like those currently making for pleasantly summery weather at least in northern Germany.
RelatedAnimals stressed by the heat
It is not only the fiaker carriage horses in Vienna that are finding it too hot. According to Swiss broadcaster SRF, cows already find temperatures from 16 degrees upwards too warm, pigs from 20 degrees. And as stressed animals eat less, milk and meat yields fall during a heatwave. Many farms in Switzerland have adapted: the animals now mostly stay in the cooler barn rather than out on pasture. In the longer term, farmers want to focus on breeds that cope better with the heat.
While the mercury in Vienna is expected to stay just below the 30°C mark, Zurich was forecast to reach 33°C in the shade on Friday and Geneva 34°C, possibly followed by thunderstorms.
What is Seven Brothers Day?
In the Catholic Church, Seven Brothers Day is, incidentally, the memorial day for the seven sons of Saint Felicitas. According to tradition, the patron saint of women and mothers was beheaded in Rome around the year 166 together with her sons Alexander, Felix, Januarius, Martialis, Philippus, Silvanus and Vitalis because she refused to renounce her Christian faith.
Popular belief holds that Felicitas had to witness the death of her sons before she herself was executed by beheading. They are regarded as early Christian martyrs.
Why is the forecast considered reliable?
Apparently, the farmers' saying about Seven Brothers Day is not regarded as entirely far-fetched even among experts. The so-called jet stream in the upper atmosphere (at around eight kilometres altitude) usually settles into a stable pattern over central Europe between the end of June and the beginning of July. Its winds tend to shape the weather for weeks at a time.
Speaking to the Frankfurter Rundschau, weather expert Dominik Jung explains: "In early July, a dominant weather pattern often becomes established that stays with us for weeks. And all the signs clearly point to warm conditions."
According to meteorologist Jung, this is because low-pressure systems from the Atlantic are effectively pushed away and pass far to the north of us.
RelatedHeat less humid than at the end of June
According to the German Meteorological Service (DWD), the most intense heat in the coming days will still be in France. But, as the DWD notes, "more and more regions" in Germany are now "enjoying" temperatures of 30 degrees or more. In the far south-west of Germany, temperatures are expected to reach 35 or 36 degrees.
According to Kachelmannwetter, the heatwave affects not only Switzerland but also Freiburg im Breisgau.
In the coming days, the air should initially be less humid than during the late-June heatwave. Nevertheless, the German Meteorological Service warns of a "severe heat stress, especially in the south-west", exacerbated by warmer nights, which particularly affect densely populated urban areas.
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