London snowing

Looks like if you want a good snowstorm – something better than the pansy centimeter at a time to be melted two days later that we get here – you need to go to…. drumroll please…… LONDON?

Cold, red Torun (photos)

Having sufficiently de-thawed my once blue fingers, I can now finally post photos from our recent skull-chattering trip to Torun, a historic city a couple hours west of Warsaw notable for its brick architecture.

A common observation of the trip was how, when you’re travelling in the middle of January, taking photos becomes less like part of the trip and more like the focus. You walk out of your hostel, shiver and bee-line your way towards the attractions, quickly snap some photos, go to the next attraction then try and find somewhere to warm up, be it a restaurant or museum.

Torun boasts its own leaning tower. Literally, that’s what this is called:

And did I mention it was cold?

No winter cruisin’ for us.

Greyer than normal

Those who may have been envious of rain and above-zero temperatures can rest easy: The parking lot outside my building is white, the grey apartment building directly in my line of site is even greyer than normal, courtesy of a full-scale snow storm and the mercury in the thermometer outside our window has been hovering below the -10 mark for most of the week.

Cheers

Maybe rain isn’t so bad

Before we leave for the internet-less Polish hinterland tomorrow, a quick thought:

While I’ve been complaining about the rain here in Warsaw, including the fact that what little  snow we got a couple nights ago was quickly melted by the drizzle, a check on the ol’ Weather Network website put my mind at ease today.

When I first saw that it was -28 in Vernon (with a windchill of -34), I honestly wished I was there. The cold weather always makes the indoors feel warmer and there is sort of an under-seige atmosphere that is, in a sick little way, fun. But then I remembered the fact that if I was back in Vernon, I would likely be working tomorrow, when the temperature will remain in the minus-teens, apparently. By work, I mean taking photos while driving around in a car in which the heater only works in the summer. By the end of the day my fingers would begin to resemble grape popsicles.

So if we don’t have a White Christmas this year, maybe that’ll be okay.

White out

Walking downtown to an internet cafe/bar in downtown Warsaw, the clouds spat a thin drizzle at me. While it has thankfully been dry for much of the past couple weeks, the wet stuff has returned. Unfortunately, it’s still not white -  unlike Southern California where, according to the LA Times:

The main roads from Los Angeles into the Antelope Valley were shutdown by a powerful storm that dumped up to six inches of snow in the area.

The windy, snowy conditions left some residents of Palmdale and Lancaster stranded and was also blamed for a helicopter crash in Santa Clarita.

Snow has been reported as low as 2,400 feet in the Antelope Valley, said Bonnie Bartling, a specialist with the National Weather Service.

Here, we haven’t seen a sign of the white stuff for weeks. And recently, it seems that’s not that unusual in a continental city further north than Edmonton.

Polandian put it well a few days ago:

Polish winters have become spineless and effeminate and I’m getting heartily sick of it. Honestly, it’s December and I’m still wearing Hawaiian shirts and my attractively baggy knee-length shorts. It’s a rubbish winter, I’ve seen more frigid nymphomaniacs. I can forgive one, or maybe even two, limp-wristed winters over the course of, say, a decade but this is shaping up to become the third pathetic effort in a row. It just won’t do.

And that coming from a Brit!

148 kilometres/hour SE

My hands are numb and I’m having a difficult time typing right now. Although the grass here may still be green, it’s pretty clearly winter – although not, apparently, as bad as back home.

Right now, according to MSN Weather, it’s zero degrees Celsius here. Which isn’t bad at all. With the windchill, it’s apparently -12, which about jives with the numbness of my hands. But, and this surprised me, the wind is apparently moving 148 km/h. That’s, oh, 120 km/h more than I would have guessed. And I think I would have noticed if I’d experienced some hurricane force winds recently.  Yahoo weather has the wind moving at 26 km/h, at 0 degrees. They don’t report windchill.

The MSN result is surprising because the windchill estimate pretty much checks out but the wind doesn’t. And given the fact that windchill is calculated using the windspeed as an important variable, it doesn’t seem to make sense. Unless, of course, the wind was moving at autobahn speeds.

Which it wasn’t.

As to why we were standing outside in the freezing cold, I’ll get to that tomorrow but a hint: it involves a riot!

Snow show

From a purely visual point of view fresh snow – when compared to rain, sunshine, sleet, hail, fog, cloudiness and everyother weather variable – is the most pleasing weather condition to the eye. Usually. Fresh, white snow, adds a cleanliness to a vista that you don’t get with sunshine. And it masterfully covers up imperfections and smooths normally rough edges.

Normally. But the first snowfall of the year, especially if it is one that leaves patches of green grass underneath is not as complimentary. Today we had such a snowfall and as I look out my window, the snow, white and splotchy, looks as if it had been applied by a painter. An untalented painter. White and green don’t go well together, for some reason. So my eager wait for the first snowfall is now followed up by my eager wait for the first true covering of snow.

That’s all.

Chilly manilly

Today was the coldest day yet – we saw our first sign of frost this morning. It wasn’t too much of a surprise. The blue skies this morning opened the air up to a cold winter breeze just like one expects in Canada. And now, tonight, it’s trying to snow with mixed results. Whatever the case, though, the weather in Warsaw has so far been pretty much the same as one would expect back home. For better or for worse. Still, I can’t wait for the first real snowfall. I’ll be grabbing my camera and heading over to the big fake palm tree in the middle of town.

In other news, we bought our first monthly metro passes: 78 zloty gets you a full month of travel on Warsaw’s efficient transit system. That’s less than $35 Canadian. A little better than I was paying back home for gas, insurance and repairs on my car. But deal of the week is at the grocery store, where 10 zloty gets you a kilo of Gouda cheese. That’s like $4.30. Safeway’s been ripping me off….

Over n’ out