Currently it seems winter has arrived everywhere in the world. New York is basically drowning in snow, Scandinavia had for the past weeks more than enough of this devilish snow with temperatures dropping down to -40 degrees Celsius, heck even Chongqing is covered in this white mess. It seems everywhere it is snowing except my dear hometown. I am usually the last person to complain about lack of snow during winter time as I had my share of battles in Finland à la digging out the car each morning/ actually finding the car. However ever since we moved to Germany winter has been very mild in this area.
Northern Germany, especially the state of Schleswig-Holstein where we live, is rarely hunted down by icy winters with tons of snow. The last time there had been much snow here was during the so-called “Snow Catastrophe of 1978” when even in my hometown snow drifts could reach a height of up to 3m! The reason for such mild winters is the fact that this state is located between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. We had each winter some snow, nothing special but usually enough to go to the nearby sledging hill and have some fun or to build snowmen and castles. When my wife visited Germany for the first time in 2010 we had snow. In fact each time we went to visit my parents during winter time we had snow here. However now we live here and the most I have seen is a layer of perhaps an inch of snow which melted away the very same day.
No snow is not a bad thing for me except that we would love to show Nathan what all he could do outside during winter time. Thus far all he could do this winter is wearing his rainboots and jump into puddles. The weird thing is that when Nathan was born we also lacked snow in Finland! We had a thick layer up till a week before he was born and then suddenly poof it’s gone! That week before he was born was the last time I needed any winter clothes or to dig out my car. I have the strange feeling that Nathan is creating an invisible dome around us which does not let any snow in. Afterall I think he even hates snow from what I can tell about his encounters with the pathetic one inch layers of snow in the past two years. Each time he sees snow on the ground he retreats, points with his hand to the snow as says “eew”.
Do you have snow where you live?
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I am now on a short holiday in Istanbul. We hear the usual talk of how cold Istanbul can be. Yes, it can be cold however in England, we have a saying ‘there is no such thing as bad weather, it just the wrong clothes we have on.’
Last night, I received two texts regarding the news of blizzard in Istanbul. Sure, there were some snow showers but it was brief. Blizzard, perhaps it was ‘Turkish blizzard.’ Yes, we have Arctic conditions in London with strong winds coming from Siberia; it is not a regular thing but it sure is bitter.
How is the condition in London (temperatures etc?). I bet people inistanbul have a different understanding of a blizzard than they have right now in New York 🙂
January is the coldest month in London. The changes of getting the cold front from Siberia is high. Of course, it’s not as cold as Finland.
The weather in the UK is cold and damp which gives rise to arthritic conditions even in animals. One hear of people complaining of painful joints.
Seems that the weather is similar in London as here in North Germany. During winter time we have very damp conditions except when temperatures go well below zero
In South Africa, you do get snow in the mountains, but usually it’s not a lot of snow, and if it even covers the peaks, people practically freak out and think that the ice age is coming!
Where I live (Johannesburg), our winters average at around 15-20 degrees Celsius during the day and drop down to no more than 10 degrees Celsius at night. So it’s pretty darn warm. We did have ‘snow’ in 2012… It honestly wasn’t much snow… but it was the closest to snow most people have seen in their lives. I’m fortunate enough to say I’ve seen snow, but it was when I was 6 years old. Personally, I tend to say I love the snow due to the fact that I seldom actually get to see it.
Wow 15-20 degrees Celsius that is even warmer than my hometown right now with 10 degrees. In Finland I learned to deal with extreme conditions. In the army there we had to camp out with-38 degrees Celsius, the fireplace inside the small group tents didn’t even give us any warmth anymore !
LOL! He’s got a dormant power that repels snow! Maybe one day he’ll discover how to control it and become a real life Avengers or something. 😀
Okay, on a serious note, I’ve tasted winter once when I was in the US. I don’t remember looking forward to spending much quality time outdoors when it snows. It was so cold the only thing I can handle doing is hiding in my hotel room and watching Netflix!
Yeah I guess low temperatures and snow must be not really the best feeling when you are used to such high temperatures all around the year. When there is much snow I just love to go outside and do some cross country skiing 🙂
Here in Australia or where I live in Melbourne we don’t have snow unless you go up to the mountains. Which is okay with me because I don’t like the cold. You know, you can create fake snow for Nathan, you know 🙂
Fake snow? I don’t really have problems with very low or very high temperatures. Summers in China are not really a problem same as freezing temperatures in Finland at the Arctic circle 🙂
Yes, fake snow. I believe you can get them in party shops. I hear they are popular with kids birthday parties – but cleaning up is hard afterwards 😀
I’d like to share that it snowed in South China yesterday, apparently for the first time since 1952! Of course not as much as in Europe, but even a little was absolutely surreal…
Wow didn’t know that it even snowed there. I bet it all melted even quicker than in my hometown 🙂
It snowed in Suzhou a couple of days ago! I missed it because I was in Hong Kong. It was frigging cold there too!
I can just guess how it must feel especially with the lack of insulation and central heating!
It is so cold in Taiwan now – it even snowed in some higher areas that has never had snow in years. I was in hibernation all weekend and I think it was the first time we ever used to heater function of our air conditioners.
I am not a big fan of the cold or snow. I suffered through many Canadian winters to ever miss the white stuff.
Haha seems you are as sick of snow as me 🙂
Here I am just glad that we have central heating and good insulation
It has been snowing in Poland since about 2-3 weeks continuously.. Not a great fan of it, but I like it when there’s snow if the temperatures are minus zero anyway. But I hate the slippery roads (like today at 1 degrees). Unfortunately there were only few days of good fresh snow at -10 or something making it pleasant to walk.
I think you’re lucky that you haven’t had so much snow there. But still about 1.5-2 months of winter remaining, so Nathan still has chance to enjoy some snow this winter. 🙂
Oh winter is pretty much over here now. Plants are even getting new leafs now!
It is always annoying when snow starts to meld…
No snow in Canberra – frost on grass during winter but rarely snows…very warm here at the moment.
Well at least you dont have this kind of snow mud like we have each time it snows a bit as it is just too warm here. For some reason we had barely any frost this winter again
Hey! greetings from Chile
Hahaha here it’s summer and pretty hot 🙂
Good luck with the snow! take care
Got to love summer though I prefer when it doesnt reach over 32 degrees celsius 🙂
Thankfully all the snow melted and even the “snow mud” dried out
We have lots of snow in the mountains. Very pretty! But no snow so far this year where I live in the Seattle area. I’m glad. We have too many hills, making it hard to drive. But I do remember how much I liked it when I was a kid. We made snow angels and snowmen, snow forts and snow balls. We went sledding down a hill in the neighborhood, and my dad even tied our sleds to his pickup and pulled us down the road, something that wouldn’t be allowed today. People are much more safety conscious.
I remember when I was younger my uncle would tie our sled to his car and drive over the frozen lake in Finland. Something like that would be impossible here in Germany
This made me smile. It reminded me of a story that my father told me about how he was kicked out of his pram to make way for his baby sister and pushed out into the snow to play ever since that day he has hated cold weather! Perhaps he and Nathan have that in common!
Great story. Sadly with Nathan we have no clue why he dislikes snow so much as he had never even seen it before 🙂
Perhaps like me and my dad he is going to love the sun. 🙂
We’ve had little snow so far and it’s very unusual for us since we usually have lots. We just came back from Banff National Park just 150 km. north of us where there was snow and did some snowshoeing.
By the way, we are visiting Europe in fall. For Germany just a few days in Rothenburg de Taber (I have to spell right..) before flying out from Frankfurt. We’ll be cycling for few days in Dijon France area before going to Barcelona, Spain.
Winter seems to have been world wide a bit strange.
I have never been to Rothenburg (Ob Der Tauber I think it is, not 100% sure right now), nor reall spending time in Frankfurt as we live far in the North. I think there will be some nice scenery around Dijon for bicycling 🙂
Yup, strange winters so far all over the world.
Yes, that German town name is more accurate than my attempt. 🙂 On our last trip, we were in Black Forest region: Freiburg, Karslruhle, Weingarten near the French border. On a different European trip, I was in Munich for 1 day..part of those whirlwind 10 country group tours from North America.
My partner did cycle solo through the Dijon area and so he knows what to show me and also what he missed but would like to see which is similar to what I want to see/enjoy.
It is good that he has been there before. It can be often overwhelming when going somewhere for the first time and trying to find the best places
Sounds like the snow situation in your hometown and in Denmark are very much the same. During my childhood, I only remember one year, with a lot of snow. I think it was there for almost 2 weeks. Otherwise, it would be gone after a day or two. In Dubai there’s never snow, but we have an indoor ski slope, so nobody complains:)
Well we also got an indoor ski slope just one hour away or so but somehow I am just not interested in something like that, prefer going out into the nature and do some proper cross country skiing (though I am terrible in it!)