How many seasons are there? Everyone will immediately answer: „Four“. True, but in Poland, which lies in the temperate climate zone, there are in fact ... six seasons! The conventional ones are wiosna, lato, jesień and zima (spring, summer, autumn and winter), but there are two more: przedzimie and przedwiośnie (early winter and early spring). As their names indicate, they occur between the seasons: przedzimie between autumn and winter (that’s the time of listopad – November – with its gloomy and gray weather), while przedwiośnie between winter and spring. A student learning Polish in a course will definitely hear about the two additional seasons from their teacher. And while living in Poland everyone (not only the foreigners) will get to experience them personally.
PRZEDWIOŚNIE, OR THE TIME BEFORE WIOSNA (SPRING)
What is przedwiośnie characterized by? First of all, the temperature is higher than in winter with a clear upward trend. It’s not as warm as spring, but there is no winter frost anymore. Daily temperature ranges between 0 and 5C. If there is precipitation, it’s usually either rain or mixed snow and rain and the weather conditions are described as odwilż, which means warming combined with snow melting, or plucha, ugly rainy weather (if you’d like to learn more new Polish words, check out our FB profile). Przedwiośnie is chilly, rainy, with overnight frost, clouds, but at the same time with the sun appearing from behind the clouds, and first flowers coming out (called przebiśniegi, snowdrops). It’s the time when nature comes to life. It’s the season, which announces the arrival of warm, sunny and green spring.
POLISH PROVERB SAYS...
There is a well-known Polish proverb which perfectly describes the changeable weather of przedwiośnie: W marcu jak w garncu (literally: March is like a pot; similar to the English proverb: March comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb). It says that at the time of przedwiośnie all weather phenomena, the ones typical of winter and those characteristic of spring, mix and stir as if cooked in a pot :)
Therefore, if you look out of the window during your Polish class and see rain, do not get upset by the early spring weather. That is a prelude to spring.
