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It’s just too cold — too cold — for me.
March 1st was the first day of meteorological spring, but Europe didn’t notice; the whole continent is frozen solid like Jack Nicholson at the end of The Shining. In Slovenia, in the town of RateÄ?e, all previous records on the books were broken by a teeth-chattering -24.3 degrees Celsius. Nova Gorica endured its coldest first of March since 1987. Other towns also plunged to the bottom of the thermostat. It was -14 in Ljubljana, -16 in Novo Mesto, -19.5 in Murska Sobota, -20 in Maribor and Celje, -21.6 in KoÄ?evje, and -10 in Koper. First prize went to Babno Polje, however, with -29 degrees Celsius.
Note to self: This summer I’m going to come back to this post, read those numbers, smile, and take another sip of my f$#&+% ice tea.
Reuters wrote a story about Europe’s "big chill," which you can read here. As usual, they use "Europe" as a synonym for "western Europe" and disregard Easterlings entirely. Nevermind that the cold is affecting the whole continent. Nevermind that people in Romania (including a one-month old baby) actually died from the cold: Reuters kicks off its article with the fact that there were delays at the airports in Amsterdam and Paris. Phénomne inimaginable!
Luckily for me, China’s People Daily Online was all over the story. Their short write-up even mentions that the canal linking Berlin and the Polish port of Szczecin is blocked due to 14-centimeter-thick ice. I had no idea. The Reuters story certainly doesn’t mention it, although they do point out that Milan got "a rare covering" of snow this morning. Fantastico!)
From blogs I learned that Split, Croatia had one of its coldest March days in the twentieth century, and that Bucharest dipped to -20 degrees Celsius, also a historic low. I even learned that sometimes snow isn’t your worst enemy, even if it sometimes feels like it — especially now when it’s so bitterly and unnaturally cold that you can’t wait for it all to melt away and for nice Slovenian summers to come thaw you out completely.
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Yes, I can report it is COLD in the Nova Gorica area, and I have indeed seen snow for the first time this year. The thermometer rarely goes below zero while in Ljubljana it seemed to do it all the time lately, but it’s been trying to compensate here for a few days, with a bloddy vengeance!
That was ‘bloody’. Uh… Blame the cold.
I had an argument with my mum the other day, when she claimed in Kocevje there was -26 on that morning. Then I said no way, cos on internet said Kocevje -23. Then she said on her window was -26. So, I am so glad I wasn’t there. Once when I was a tiny girl and had to go to school and there was about -20, I remember my eyelashes got frozen in the minute I had stepped outside. Then I decided I wanted to move to Primorska some day. Huh, by some weird coincidence that’s what really waiting for me in the near future - Gorica. But heck, the temperatures there started to crack bellow zero, too.
…especially now when it’s so bitterly and unnaturally cold that you can’t wait for it all to melt away and for nice Slovenian summers to come thaw you out completely.
Well, I heard the other day that this summer is going to be tropical heat again, so I wouldn’t be so eager to “get there”.
I hate extreme weather. And the summer of 2003
was one of the wort examples… 39 degrees in the shaddow, who can do anything, but sit in a cold pool at those temperatures?
I lost about ten liters of sweat in the summer of 2003. Last summer was really mild, if I remember right. It was more like a really, really long spring. I kind of hope Dr. Kruegell is right and we get some tropical heat this. (Although if it comes, get ready for: “Man, it’s f$%&# hot! I wish it was March again!” from me.) The grass is always greener, etc…
This makes me consider wether I should bring my trusty, -40 degrees, Quebec-made Kanuk to Slovenia for next winter…..
Here, way up north in Iceland, it´s 5°C so everybody that´s freezing down in Europe can always come here
Amazing! There, you see, that just proves that the Kyoto thing works! (tongue in cheek)
There is always more snow in your neighbours garden… Shit, I really hate this weather. Here in Trst yesterday night was snowing like a b**ch, now it’s sunny and +8°C. But I really hope that the summer won’t be hot. I hate the heat. Guess if it’s going to be too hot (over 30°C), I’ll just go to Leeuwarden (NL) for the summer.
Its -5 here and our tiny little country
made the CNN
* Packs his thong for Iceland *
*pictures Michael in a thong and falls over, laughing*
I wouldn’t laugh too soon, BeeBee. I don’t look too bad in one, as you can see here.
Now you’ve done it. Make sure your speakers are turned on. I give you - String-emil!
Crni, I’m traumatised for life!
BeeBee, grem stavit, da si geologinja. In grem stavit, da poznas mojo sestro. Haha!
Michael: I am not complaining about the weather. It’s a little bit colder now, but the magnolia in front of the house is already blooming. Feel free to visit
Oh God, I remember 2003. We went from -10 in winter to +45 in August, near Madrid. I remember one night at ONE IN THE MORNING it was STILL *39* degrees. I’ll take -26 anytime, but nothing over 15, please. Call me crazy.
Hehehe… sending you lots of sunshine from Hawaii!
And yes, Bojana, my thermometer has seen numbers below zero in Gorica too, much to my delight. I even had snow in the tiny little thing that passes for a garden here. The flowers are tough and still alive though… Who knew they’d start coming out last month?
Don’t forget, we went from +39 on the 31st of august 2003 to +10 on the 14th of september 2003 … that was NOT good.
I know that it’s been -17 C in Sarajevo pretty routinely and I read that they could not pick up the trash on time. In Mostar, when you look at the live cam, there was a lot of snow, now it’s been rainy several days, I mean seriously raining, meanwhile in the Gulag where I live, it’s been so warm that gaces dugos are NOT a good idea, and there wasn’t frost for a week. i’m not used to feeling sweaty this early in the year. I think the permafrost may go.
Thanks btw for the link on Szecin. My great grandfather went to the U.S. from Szecin and that was a link I didn’t find before. I found one with a really wonderful purple house from the 14th century that looked like crazed hippies designed it while very high. I mean this as a complement.
Crni, nisem.
Crni, laže. (And someone needs to extradite String-emil to the Hague for that page. Good Lord.)
Katja: Quod just posted some great pictures of snow-covered Mostar. It looks very nice, especially with the new bridge.
I’m a bit late to this discussion, but it’s been f*cking cold in Amsterdam too. Yesterday morning it was -15. And we have about 20cm of snow on the ground, too.
It’s very pretty, but I won’t be sorry when spring comes… any day now…
Thanks for that link, the pictures are AWESOME! It’s also wierd because you just don’t think of that level of snow when you think of Mostar.
Dear God, just thinking I could have spent these latest months in Slovenia, brrr! Pretty cold here in Portugal too, at least for our standards: -20 in the highest peak (Estrela) and negative night temperatures in all major cities except Faro. As for Reuters, damn, it’s just sad the news services we have to rely on…
Down near Berchtesgaden, it was -43 or so, while sunny Munich was merely -22. Brr.