Beauty is a bitch

Don't be fooled by the title, this post is weather related. We haven't had minus °C since the 29th of December and before that a few days in early December. And plus °C in those cases mean a few hours of around 1 °C. No snow melting temperatures. The last of those were the 1st of December with around 5 °C. Then the temperature turned minus °C and has stayed that way. Century old records have been broken.

In a normal winter it gets cold, it snows a bit, it gets warmer, the snow melts away, sometimes it rains away, before it gets colder again. So even if it snows alot with a winter like that the snow isn't a problem because a large part of it melts away every now and then. This winter we have close to three months of snow and none of it has melted away.

And it's not just that it's minus °C it also very cold, around -10 °C to -20 °C with a few freak days with -5 °C or -25 °C. You have to be careful before going out, you have to dress yourself in warm but bulky winter clothes. Cold temperatures are unforgiving. Two winters ago I worked outside with a tuque on but it did not cover my ears. Last winter I couldn't go outside in minus °C without covering my ears, they ached. This winter I can go outside in minus °C without covering my ears, but I'm careful The frostbite has healed, it only took two years.

But this winter is also the most beautiful I have ever seen. A cold night covers everything in white and I'm not talking about snow. There's moist in the air, even in the cold winter, sometimes fog, covers everything in hard rime that can be up to a centimeter thick. Ant it's not ice, it's snow crystals, much like snow flakes. Imagine such a landscape after a foggy -20 °C cold night lit up by the morning sun.

Our winter is a beautiful but she is cold and unforgiving to the unwary.