Perfectly on time for December 1 (is 2007 really almost over already?!) it started snowing — and snow started to stick. Doesn’t happen all that often in Vancouver, maybe once or twice a season for a day or two. However, so far, we haven’t even come close to matching last year’s first snow fall.
This morning it looked like this:
I kind of like seeing the landscape under a white blanket every once in a while. My dear wife, however, could not be disagreeing more. 
Looks like summer is here. And for real. It was going quite slowly this year, especially compared to Europe. In mid-May temperatures were still in the 15°C range for the most part. These days seem to be a matter of the past, though.
This is the current forecast according to Environment Canada.
Of course, they are “lying” as far as the temperatures are concerned. Temperatures are measured at Vancouver Airport which is surrounded by water and thus quite a bit cooler that the rest of the Lower Mainland.
We’ve been talking about getting a portable air conditioner at home for this summer season ever since we moved in. I think we’re going to follow through on that pretty darn fast. 
Our condo tends to get quite, how shall I say it, “warm and cozy”. Fortunately it’s at least East facing. This means early morning sun (it’s really hot in our 2nd bedroom as early as 6:30am), but at least it’s cooling off a little during the day. — Not enough, though. We definitely need some artificial “help” with the temperature in our place.
Looks like British Columbia will get new specialty licence plates pretty soon. Starting next week, ICBC will begin issuing special licence plates in honor of the 2010 Winter Olympics held in Vancouver and Whistler. The net proceeds will go to supporting the games.
Apparently, we live in The Best Place on Earth. I’m not going to disagree on that. 
Seems like Vancouver can’t get enough snow this season. The Lower Mainland is, yet again, covered in a white blanket. Not even two months ago it looked like this and we’re back there now. There have been little interludes of snow between the first big snowfall and now, as well.
The rules of snow here are:
There’s just a tiny, little problem with these rules. Every single one has been broken this season.
On the other hand, there’s Austria. They would like snow. Lots of it (in some parts anyways). However, they are experiencing the mildest winter ever. It is not unusual for Vienna to not get a lot of snow. It is unusual if the daytime highs approach or even exceed 10°C — and not just for a day or two. It is also unusual for the Western provinces to not have any snow at all. Innsbruck, for instance, is forcast 6°C for Friday and 9°C for Sunday. Apparently it is so bad that pollen are in the air already.
And, of course, Tourism Austria is not happy at the lack af snow at all. It’s pretty bad for the economy.
Crazy stuff!
I hope everybody had a good start into 2007. May the remainder of the year be even better.
I was yet again amazed as to how quiet (in regards to fire crackers) it was yesterday here in Vancouver. Back in Austria, kids are starting to make the occasional noise as early as Dec. 29, and it gets worse from there. Especially for pets, the evening of Dec. 31 tends to be very loud and stressful over there.
Not so here, and I quite like that.
Unusually early we got snow this year. Normally it doesn’t snow in Vancouver till late December or January, if at all. They were predicting snowfall starting this weekend and a drastic drop in temperature. And they were right. It started snowing lightly early afternoon and now, at five o’clock, it’s snowing quite hard and the snow actually sticks on the grass and on parked cars. The roads are still just wet.
That’s how it looks from our window right now. There’s going to be more snow tomorrow as it looks like. And we might just take the kitty outside to enjoy the snow, ’cause she sure likes it.
That’s the snowflakes. That picture was an accident. The flash was on and I didn’t realize it. I wasn’t expecting it to turn out at all, let alone that nicely.
