Martin on a white horse? At Prague's Ruzyně snow lay 4 times in 65 years, at Churáňov 26 times

01Calculation

How many times in 65 years Martin really arrived

We distinguish two things. Lying snow means that at 7 am CET on the morning of 11 November the snow cover at the station was deeper than 0 cm, so Martin really did arrive on a white horse. New snow is snow that fell during the feast day itself, between 7 am on 11 November and 7 am on 12 November.

At the Prague-Ruzyně station snow lay on the morning of 11 November in four of 65 years, in 1980, 1981, 2004 and 2007. At the Brno-Tuřany station it did not lie even once, at the Ostrava-Mošnov station only in 1981, and at the Cheb station in 2004 and 2007. None of these series is missing a measurement for any year.

The mountains lead by a wide margin. At Churáňov in the Šumava snow lay on the morning of 11 November in 26 of 65 years, last in 2023, and on Lysá hora in 25 years, last in 2019. Přimda and Milešovka have nine years each, both last in 2016.

02Earlier report

Four snowy Martins in ten years, three of them only in the mountains

Meteorologists of the ČHMÚ summed up in a report from November 2022 that the saying had come true in Czechia four times in the previous ten years, when it snowed in 2013, 2016, 2017 and 2019. Only in 2016 did snow appear across a considerable part of the country, while in the other cases it fell only in the mountains and soon melted.

In Prague one to two centimetres of snow fell in 2016, but only during the feast day. That is why our calculation counts Ruzyně among the days with new snow, not among the mornings when snow was already lying. The ČHMÚ in its report counted days when it snowed. Our calculation also shows the mornings when older snow was lying.

In 2023 snow appeared on St Martin's Day only at higher elevations and in the mountains. In our calculation new snow was added at Churáňov and on Lysá hora, while Prague-Ruzyně, Brno-Tuřany, Ostrava-Mošnov and Cheb stayed without it.

03Origin of the saying

The white horse is younger than you think

The saying about the white horse looks as old as the feast day itself, yet according to the meteorologist Jan Munzar the origin of sayings about the colour of Martin's horse goes back only to about the middle of the 19th century. The legend of St Martin is much older.

There were more horse colours than one. According to the sayings, Martin may also arrive on a grey horse, which stands for fog and foretells a changeable winter.

Martin's Day was also a day of economic settling of accounts. On that day farm servants finished their service and received their wages for the past year, new contracts were concluded in the countryside, and the servants changed masters. Grazing ended and stores were laid in for the winter, so the feast day stood on the border between two seasons.

04This year

Will he arrive this year? Only a forecast a few days ahead will tell

Daniel Kurka, then director of the Prague branch of the ČHMÚ, said in 2019 that “we can already forecast with accuracy two or three days ahead” and that “a long-term forecast is more complicated”. Whether snow will lie on the morning of 11 November will therefore be shown more reliably only by the forecast from the last days before the feast.

Historical numbers tell how rare a white horse is, not whether he will arrive this year. We wrote about the first snow on Sněžka, the highest mountain in Czechia, on 19 October 2026.