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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