More snow and colder temperatures please
Sun, 01/17/2010 - 22:32
The winter of 2009-2010 will be one that will stick in our minds for years to come, one that will go down in history, one that childhood memories are made of. It is the kind of winter that the Swedes remember from their own childhood, from times when winters were colder and whiter and the summers warmer and sunnier than they are today.
In mid-December the snow fell, some 10-20 even almost 30cm of it in some parts of the country. For the first time since 2001 the entire country enjoyed a white Christmas, from Lappland in the north to most of Skåne in the south. What will stay in my memory about this winter in Stockholm is not just that it snowed, and the amount of it, but the fact that over a month later it is still here, that it has not melted away.
With the snow came the cold temperatures too. In the 17 Swedish winters I've experienced I can't say I have had too many -20 C (or there abouts) days. This winter there have been several. It became the norm to not walk out the door without snow suits on the kids, and the few times I went out with just jeans on I froze - even if it was just running between the car and a supermarket, or a museum. It has been too cold to be lazy with the layers this winter.
Record temperatures have not been unique for Stockholm, but have been recorded around the country with the coldest being on January 6th. A freezing, and un-comprehensible -39 C was recorded in the Lappland mountains, and friends talked about how -27 C was just too cold to ski the slopes of central Sweden.....
It has been a fantastic winter to have had friends and family visit from far away with last week in Stockholm being one the most beautiful I've seen so far. The sun shone earlier in the week and the trees sparkled, looking like they were made of ice. The lack of wind and the cold temperatures meant the snow clung to even the scrawniest of branches in a magical, fairy tale kind of way. My only regret is not getting out with my camera.
If there is one thing that life in Sweden teaches you it is that you have to make the most of what you have. When there is snow you ski or toboggan, when there is ice you skate, when there is sunshine you go outside. Because if there is one thing for sure, it is that it never lasts. The last couple of days have been testament to the fact.
Friday I noticed the snow on our local roads had changed. Suddenly instead of being two deep tire trenches on an otherwise white road it was like driving on the beach. Both the colour and the consistency of the snow was like sand and each car made its own tracks rather than being forced into the grooves that had been there for weeks. The snow was softer, warmer, more pliable. And as the snow warms up it becomes dirtly. The smaller main roads had changed too. Suddenly they were exposed for the first time in weeks and the melted snow had been flung off to the side where it lay all grey and ugly, a shadow of its former, glorious, self.
After weeks of temperatures below -10 we now talk about -7 as being mild. And with the current temperatures being around -2 C I find myself wishing for colder weather again. The air and the ground are drier and the sun shines more. The snow stays white and pretty.
So if the Weather Gods are reading this - please don't give us temperatures above freezing! I take back all my swearing and complaining about the cold. I miss is and can now appreciate how the northerners must feel about their winters. Give us more snow instead, we need to soften up our local hills and slopes.
Who would ever have thought that an Aussie would be wishing for colder weather?