h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I fly three and half thousand miles to a traditionally wintery country for Christmas, and I arrive and there's no bloody snow!

Lester Pearson airport was a balmy 8 degrees the afternoon I arrived -that's way warmer than the chilly and foggy Heathrow that I'd left 8 hours earlier(*). That place was down around freezing point.

The forecast is for warm overcast days and no snow for Christmas, and maybe just a chance of a little dusting before the new year. Alright so it's nice to be here regardless of the weathere, but I was promised and was expecting weather unlike that which I could be reasonably expected to receive at home, so on that basis I am and remain cross


(*) OK, I recognise that I was lucky to get away from Heathrow what with the foggy conditions these last few days. But I was flying long-haul, and as far as I can tell these flights were the ones that were getting away OK.

Global warming for you.

Can't be global warming - he on the American continent and George says there's no such thing there.

The step-brother and his wife arrived here at Mum's house this evening.

They'd brought along a great big cooler box full of snow just for me, and dumped it on the patio decking that looks out over the river. Aww... how sweet of them

Alright, it's not that impressive a fall. There is a sugar frosting to well insulated rooves and on the windshields of cars left overnight in the chill. There isn't enough to cover the grass, though it *is* settling on the lawns.

There won't be anything settling on the roads as the local council are well sorted on the gritting and ploughing thing. I've seen the gritters passing the house 5 times already this morning, and that's in a quiet little town of three-thousand or so souls on Boxing Day when no one is out doing anything anyway.

::googles Lester Pearson::


Ah, you're in Canadia!

And it was gone in 60 seconds.

<>

I'm in a small town in British Columbia, but everyone's at the mall hitting the Boxing Day sales!

We didn't get any snow - it rained on Christmas like it does every year.

We had snow last year on Christmas day. I seriously doubt that will ever happen again in my lifetime.

A white Christmas on the Texas Gulf Coast is a rare thing indeed.

... and done properly this time


The fall on Boxing Day was rather wet and sticky snow. The stuff that came down today (albeit not that much of it, but that's not the point) was lovely fluffy dry powdery stuff - the stuff that winter sports dreams are made of

?

We had 20-odd inches of snow here by Dec. 21. Now we're getting more.

Another 10 inches possible by morning.

And by Sunday morning, we may have 20-40 more inches!

Bleh!!!

(But I do like it! Maybe because I just cooked my first-ever pot roast and it's delicious.)

Nothing here since 1 December. Supposed to rain this weekend. Bleh.

How much longer are you on the continent, GD?

And has it stopped snowing there yet, Dragonfly? On the news they keep telling us how horrible it is up there to make us feel better about not getting *any* snow at *all* here for the holidays.

Hope everyone's travelling safely!

I left late on the 30th.

That was the day when we finally got some decent deep (by UK standards anyway) snow. About 3 inches of the stuff fell that morning, and I had some great fun making snowmen - What do you mean? Bleah, so what if I'm 40 - and the like out in the back yard.

The 'bleh' was for the rain, I'd much rather have had snow. It doesn't snow nearly enough here.

Not that I'd want to be living in Denver right now, mind you

Yes, the three limked news items in the first couple of days that I was in Canada reflects that nation's obsession with the weather - hardly a surprise when you think that their early bloodstock comes from the UK and what with our obsession with wind and rain and sun and how we never get the right amount of each at the right time - it was about the lack of snow in Canada and how that was affecting the ski resorts; the snow in Denver and how that was causing chaos; and the fog at Heathrow stopping hundreds of flights leaving London.

The snow in Denver did cause some chaos, but our second storm in eight days was a bit of a downer. They were predicting it'd be pretty ugly, but instead of lasting almost four days in the metro area, it lasted about a day and a half and was pretty light, for the most part.

We're in a great situation for snowstorms (if you can have that!). We live in an apartment, so we don't have to shovel (unless we want the car out) and I can walk six or seven blocks to the bus station to get to work (just a couple miles away) and my boyfriend can walk two-three blocks to where he works.

So snowstorms aren't a great inconvience.

My empolyer (a big Denver newspaper) was talking up the hotel rooms they had available for us ... and I debate whether or not to come home. It all depended on the busses, which had become stuck in the snow during the previous storm.

In the end I decided to go home and, if it was really bad in the morning, I'd walk to work.

Thankfully, I didn't have to walk at all (just to my bus stop, something I gotta do pretty soon here)! http://denver.yourhub.com/PARKER/Blogs/Weather/Local-Weather/Blog~165231.aspx

And if you want what I think is kind of a funny story about the snow in Denver, please read this: Blizzard leaves couple with brussel sprouts -- http://denver.yourhub.com/PARKER/Stories/Outdoors/Story~164682.aspx

Many thanks.

Oh, and the major roads are nice and dry here. The roads near my apartment are a little messy, and one in particular is very rough, but I will avoid it.

The snow I think I could handle. The brussels sprouts would be torture.

I'm glad the snow hasn't inconvenienced you too much. I know I laugh when some of the southern climes get an inch or two and don't know what to do with it, but I'd be pretty lost in anything more than 8 or 10 inches.

Mele Kalikimaka!



We're getting more snow on Thursday or Friday and there's been a wicked wind blowing around for a couple days.

That'll be the sprouts...