Sunday, February 10, 2019

The London Frost Festival


Recently, a great portion of the country endured what meteorologists were calling a Polar Vortex...which is scientific speak for 'Super-ridiculous-insanely-cold.' 

This vortex seemed to center over Minnesota (Where I live!) where temperatures plummeted many, many degrees below zero, and our wind-chills (the 'feels like' temperatures) dipped to more than -50 degrees F. For days, schools were closed, events cancelled, and many people stayed inside. But many ventured out and went about their lives, and some even embraced the ridiculous cold.

I was holed up doing research for my next novel, a Regency slated to release in 2020, and I came across articles speaking of "The Little Ice Age" a period of unusual cold that held sway for several centuries. Scientists differ as to when it began and when it officially ended, but the dates range from 1250 AD to 1900. During this time, the planet experienced colder than normal temperatures and some fantastic weather and geological events.

During the period between 1600 and 1814, the temperatures in London were so cold that the River Thames froze solid 26 times. Not one to let an opportunity go to waste, Londoners used the frozen surface to host Frost Festivals.


The view out the author's front window.
Ice skating, marionette shows, food vendors, merchants selling wares, games, gambling, pubs, and more were to be had in a rapidly growing little city on the ice. The last year of the festival, 1814, (The year my current novel is set) thousands of people visited every day, thronging onto the ice to experience the fun. At this last festival, there was even an elephant on parade!

The Thames froze periodically due to the extreme cold temperatures and because of the location and construction of the now-replaced London Bridge. During the Regency period, the London Bridge's pilings were placed so close together that water could not flow as freely, and great chunks of floating ice would get jammed against the pilings, stemming the flow of water even more. As a result, the river was more prone to freezing. When the London Bridge was replaced, the problem abated, and the Thames now does not freeze over in London.

But when it did, Londoners knew how to celebrate the cold! Below is a video shot during the Polar Vortex in St. Paul, Minnesota. We're hardy folks here, but there are limits!




Best-selling, award-winning author Erica Vetsch loves Jesus, history, romance, and sports. She’s a transplanted Kansan now living in Minnesota, and she married her total opposite and soul mate! When she’s not writing fiction, she’s planning her next trip to a history museum and cheering on her Kansas Jayhawks and New Zealand All Blacks. You can connect with her at her website, www.ericavetsch.comwhere you can read about her books and sign up for her newsletter, and you can find her online at https://www.facebook.com/EricaVetschAuthor/ where she spends way too much time!

8 comments:

  1. I know it was crazy cold for you folks. Here in Maine we had mostly -10 on a couple of days, but the wind chill was pretty hefty on those days with 30-50 mph wind gusts. Too cold for festivals, in my opinion! A warm blanket, coffee and a book are my goals for that kind of day!

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    1. Connie, they cancelled events for the St. Paul Winter Carnival. Definitely time for a good book and staying inside!

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  2. So interesting--I actually saw a Dr. Who episode set during the London Frost Festival of 1814, so this post was fun to learn more about the background behind that! Goodness, it's been cold for you all lately--here in California it's even been colder than usual, but nothing like what you've experienced, of course. Stay warm!

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    1. I could use a little California warmth, Keirsti! It's snowing here again with another 5-7 inches expected. Sigh.

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  3. I can't imagine enduring temperatures that cold. What did it feel like? That video was funny.

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    1. Vickie, it was brutal. Painful to go outside. Like breathing in liquid ice. Frost built up on the inside of windows in my house.

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  4. THE EGGS!!! Oh my goodness!!! In the south it's the opposite - I remember when I was a little girl a weather guy fried an egg on the sidewalk!! (in summer, of course)

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    1. Robin, they do that in the summertime here, too. Such extremes where we live!

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