July Snow Showers

Snow!! In Africa!! I have now experienced it.

I realize that for for those of you in Alberta, Canada who have been having snow in May, the last thing you may want to hear of is more snow. But it was a novel experience to stand outside in the cold and take in a snow flurry, something I had not experienced in over three years now.

We have been having frosty nights. A day or so back I was wistfully thinking how much nicer a real windshield scraper would be rather than the bank card I was trying to scrape frost off the windshield/screen with. The forecast for last night was cold-cold, as in -7 to -8. Still I was surprized when I went out this morning (15 June 2010) and noticed a few flakes of snow on the vehicles. We had had a brief flurry during the night, the only remnants being on the roof of the vehicles where it had not melted. Ahh, but more was to come.

The wind grew bitter and the clouds closed in, as I was hanging out some laundry. Then at about 8:30 a full fledged snow squall broke. There were now more than a few flakes on the vehicles and the grass was turning white.

It was bona fida snow. :-) I quickly got the camera to record the proof, and enjoyed a few minutes being out in the cold AND snow. I took a walk down town. It was empty. Folks it seemed were staying home and indoors where there was a bit of warmth.

Alas, it did not last long. Within a couple hours the snow had melted away, and now the sun is shining. There is no forecast of any further snow, though the cold weather, with -5 to -7, is forecast to remain for a few more days.

So now I have experienced snow in every month of the year but July; August through May in Alberta and June in Lesotho. In July I will be taking a trip into the mountains with road passes above 3,000 metres, so I may yet experience snow in every month of the year.

There was one other blast of cold from the past this morning. Having hung out the laundry before the snow flurry I went out to shake the snow off the clothes once the flurry had passed. The clothes were stiff and frozen. The advent of clothes dryers had made this experience a thing of the past for most of us, and to say I remember those days ... well, I guess that dates me a bit, eh?

Keep warm all. :-)

~ Benno ~