Tuesday, 21 November 2017

First snow, first frost of winter 2017/18

Just for the record, nothing really to get excited about. Yesterday, Monday 20 November, it snowed briefly in the morning in Warsaw. I wasn't expecting this, but here was the view outside my bedroom window...

Childhood memories of Warsaw
But the temperature never fell below zero (it dropped to +1C for about two hours around dawn). By the time I got to the bus stop just after 8am, the snow had turned to rain, the slush on the road surface was dreadful. As was the traffic. My bus journey to Metro Stokłosy which, according to the timetable, should take 21 minutes, actually took 45 minutes - it arrived at my destination 24 minutes late. In town, there was no sign of any snow.

Just for the record, I'd like to point out that the first snow in 2009 was as early as 14 October, while in 2012 on 29 October it snowed copiously and stayed put for a while.

This morning, Tuesday 21 November, the temperature fell below zero for about two hours before dawn, and then promptly shot up to +3C. The short subzero spell was enough to put the thinnest skim of ice onto puddles and to lay down the lightest touch of frost onto the vegetation.

Looking ahead, the temperature is expected (by Meteo.pl) to reach 9C on Thursday and on Friday, so this cold snap is passing very quickly. Long term, it does seem that Warsaw's winters are starting later and are generally milder - although these trends need to be averaged out over the long term.

I'm in Edinburgh for the next few days, here it's mild with a warm westerly wind and the smell of sea air in the city's streets.

This time seven years ago
Childhood memories of Warsaw


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