Cold Weather

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Where I live we have ~ due to the proximity and influence of the North Sea ~ a temperate climate. And while we most definitely enjoy four seasons, temperatures are average around the year.
This means that Spring tends to be nice; Summer always seems to be too rainy (although looking at the factual precipitation it hardly ever is); Fall can have its stormy Fall weather ~ and Winter is hardly ever really cold...
Independent from the average weather patterns and temperatures ~ out here, we talk a lot about the weather... Even though it is ~ with everything being pretty much average ~ not all that interesting to talk about.

But as soon as the climate patterns bring us outside of our average normalcy where the weather is concerned, interesting things happen...

When in Spring or Summer there are a few truly warm, sunny days ~ it seems like every single person goes to the beach. Which is understandable when you realize that with a moderate to high humidity, even an average warm, sunny day can feel uncomfortably hot.

Yet when the weather turns cold during the Winter months it becomes obvious how much we have grown accustomed to our temperate climate...
Only a couple of inches of snow has a tendency to bring all transportation to a screeching halt. Freeways quickly start to resemble parking lots. And traffic jams of trains form on the tracks leading up to the railroad stations.
Often the snow turns to slush in only a couple of hours which disappears in the next couple of days.

However, every once in a while, when an Eastern wind takes hold of the weather patterns, the weather gets cold enough for the snow to stick around. Suddenly we are experiencing a ‘real Winter’; one of those Winters that our parents and grandparents used to talk about... A Winter that makes us climb into the attic in order to find our skates ~ trusting that before long we can swirl around on the ice on pond in the park.
After a couple of days of this cold weather, the whole Country seems to become atwitter about the chances of another one of the legendary skating tours in the Netherlands; the ‘Elfstedentocht’. Day by day the thickness of the ice is measured ~ and millions of eyes follow the progress of its build-up to the necessary 6 inches...

On the other hand ~ those that find their water pipes freezing up, or their homes having trouble being heated to a comfortable level, may not be quite as enthusiastic about the cold Winter weather...
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