20 August 2011

What a week

I don't usually spend so much time blogging about the weather but it's been so unusual this week that I think it was warranted! This last week:

Sunday: sunshine, then cold, then sleet, then bits of snow
Monday: colder, sleet, hail, and snow
Tuesday: masses of snow! We had about 10-12cm at our place
Wednesday: ice, then sleety rain
Thursday: rain, lots and lots of really cold rain
Friday: more rain, but slowly breaking up
Saturday: sunshine! and drying washing!

It has been unbelieveable. The polar blast this week covered the entire country in snow, from the deep south up to north of Whangarei - they even had snow on the ground in Dargaville! This satellite photo of NZ taken on Tuesday tells the tale:

NZ covered in snow: satellite photo from Landcare Reseach via stuff.co.nz
Pretty amazing. Standing there on Tuesday afternoon in my garden with my little daughter watching the snow falling fast and hard is something I will never forget. I had gone home slightly early - hubby had called and said if I didn't leave then I wouldn't get home, and he was right! - and snow was settling when I got to the Dowse Drive interchange, which is only a few metres above sea level. Avalon Park looked like it was covered in icing sugar, and by the time I got home, there was nothing to be seen but snow. It was amazing. We built another snowman, right in our own front yard, and had another snowball fight! The trees were so pretty, covered and outlined in snow, and the only sound you could hear was the laughter of children (and adults!) outside. I never understood until then how quiet snow is when it's falling. Everything gets this huge hush, like you're the only person breathing on the planet.

The cat, however, was completely unimpressed - he was giving me evil looks for days once the snow started to come, because he's never seen it either and didn't know what it was. It bothered him, especially when he went outside to do his business, and couldn't find anywhere to dig his hole! He soon discovered that under the bushes was free of snow, but that had its own challenges: he was less than impressed when he pushed under the bushes and got snow dumped all over him! The only time he was completely at ease with the whole business was when we went to bed and he could snuggle up on our bed and keep warm. Apparently it isn't only a housecat problem either: there was a great photo in the paper earlier in the week of the lions at Wellington Zoo, and the look of disgust on the lioness's face was exactly the same as my furballs's, only bigger and more grumpy (if that's possible).

They're calling it a once in 100-year snowstorm...

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