Winter's slight return

Eddie ran into my room last night to announce that it was snowing. Indeed - but the temperature was hovering just above zero, so whether the snow would last the night was questionable.

It did. We awoke to find that winter had returned, though tenuously. Some freezing fog and wet, clingy snow ensured that the sight that met our eyes was indeed a pleasing one. But for how long? Forecasts suggest that the temperature will fall to -5C by Saturday morning and that snow will continue to fall lightly.

One thing that's immediately noticeable when the temperature hovers around zero - the difference between city and suburb. There is a difference of up to one degree C in temperature due to the urban heat island effect, which you can see by comparing temperatures at Okęcie airport and at the Institute of Physics, Warsaw Technical University (Politechnika Warszawska). Right now, that difference is 0.9C. During the day, Warsaw city centre pavements were wet; wet slushy snow was falling off trees, but in Jeziorki, the frost held on - just.

This time last year:
Unacceptable

This time two years ago:
Pieniny in winter

This time three years ago:
Wetlands in a wet winter