First snow, 2024

Well, there was a very light dusting yesterday (21 November, tyle co kot napłakał = as much as the cat cried out = cat's tears = next to nothing), but this morning, there was a more substantive snowfall. It won't stay long, as the temperature is +2.8°C at midday. But for the record kept on my blog, it counts.  Below: view from my kitchen table, breakfast time, still below freezing, just.

As usual, the first snow means transport disruptions; my inbox this morning contains an email from Koleje Mazowieckie informing me of utrudnienia ('impediments') on the Warsaw-Radom line, another one saying that KM passengers can use InterCity trains with valid KM tickets (useful if you're travelling from, say, Piaseczno to Warka), and a third email stating that the 08:33 train from Warsaw to Radom is running 90 minutes late. SNAFU, in other words. 

On the roads, things are not good for all the motorists who've not yet changed from summer tyres to winter tyres (a colleague spoke of a five-day wait at his local vulcanisator). I'd expect a spike in road-traffic accidents and much slippin' an' a slidin' going on.

A first snowfall on 21 November is nothing unusual. It's not the warmest November on record, but far from the coldest. The earliest snowfall recorded on this blog (now entering its 18th winter) was in 2009, when snow fell on 14 October. 

Below: a table of all the first snowfalls that I recorded on the blog. Skipped years mean the snow (or lack thereof) wasn't remarkable enough to merit a post. One winter stands out – the one before the pandemic; a weak fall at the end of January was literally the only snow that winter. Otherwise, what's clear from the table is that first snowfalls in October and in the first half of November haven't occurred in Mazowsze over the past 12 years. This squares with my observations of first frosts.

Winter	Date of first snow
2024-2025	22 November 2024
2022-2023	24 November 2022
2020-2021	20 December 2020
2019-2020	29 January 2020
2017-2018	21 November 2017
2012-2013	29 October 2012
2011-2012	21 December 2011
2010-2011	30 November 2010
2009-2010	14 October 2009
2008-2009	22 November 2008
2007-20087	14 November 2007

UPDATE: Afternoon, 22 November. Walk to the shop. Below: Kodacolor Kansas at the end of my lane.

Below: low sun, field at the edge of town.

Below: on the journey back, ulica Jabłoniowa, sunset, berry field, barbed wire.

Below: ulica Torowa, half an hour or so after the horizon had swallowed the sun.

Below: Chy-town station in the snow at nightfall.

This time last year:
An afternoon and evening in Katowice

This time four years ago:
Wola's Joryt building (and its place in Polish popular culture)

This time five years ago:
Karczunkowska viaduct opens to cars, but not to pedestrians

This time six years ago:
Edinburgh's Polish statues

This time seven years ago:
Edinburgh - walking the Water of Leith

This time eight years ago:
Poland's north-west frontier

This time nine years ago:
Cars must fade from our cities

This time 11 years ago:
Unnecessary street lighting wastes public money

This time 12 years ago:
Warsaw's heros on the walls 

This time 13 years ago:
Tax dodge or public service? 

This time 15 years ago:
Warsaw's woodlands in autumn

This time 16 years ago:
Still here, the early snow

This time 17 years ago:
Another point of view