2010-01-28
Natasha先生のブログ -Winter-
January is when winter stops being exciting. All the holidays have finished and there are no more vacations until April. The weather is cold and dry or wet depending on where you live, and the daylight hours are very short.
I am originally from Barrie, Ontario; a city about one hour north of Toronto. This season my hometown is buried under mountains of snow that will surely stay until the beginning of April. This coming week the forecast is -16 ℃ but that it warm it is not unusual for the weather to hit -30℃. There will be even more snow this week too, but there is an upside. Barrie is much further south than Vancouver. Daylight lasts over 11 hours a day in January and overall the winter weather in Barrie is quite sunny.
Photo: Toronto in March
As you can imgine living in Vancouver is a big change for me. I have not needed my winter coat more than once or twice this year. The forecast for this week is plus 8 ℃. Though many people wear winter coats I find I am OK just wearing my spring jacket with a scarf. With such warm weather it usually snows only once or twie a year in Vancouver, so my wnter boots are more about fashion than anything else. The downside to this balmy weather is that it will be cloudy and rainy everyday this week and there are only 8 hours of daylight each day in January. This means that unless I go outside on my lunch break the only time I see dalight is on the weekend.
Photo: Vancouver in January
There are positives and negatives to weather all over the world and though I think fondly about snow I am glad I don't have to shovel it or walk in it everyday. I much prefer seeing the fresh sprouts of tulips poking out of the ground in January, even if I only get to see them in the dark.
Which would you prefer??
