Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Last winter I moved to Edmonton and I got my first taste of a "real" Canadian winter. I'm not looking forward to the inevitable few weeks of -40 (plus windchill) in January and February. I think I prefer the annoying Vancouver rain. One good thing is that it's usually sunny here!

Apparently, right now my area has equal the amount of snow that we accumulated all through last winter. I do like snow, but it's a little annoying to not be able to see over the meridian in some places while driving.

Like this?

YIKES.

I just found this photo. The winds were crazy last night, but apparently this crazy:

Wow. We just got a lot of rain in Santa Cruz.

Haha. That picture was actually taken around here last winter. Pretty normal conditions, believe it or not.

It's summer! It's summer!! Crazy sudden thunderstorms!! I love it. This week we were pushing 30, which for this town is pretty hot (everyone moans incessantly. i love it though, personally). We'll go up to my cousin's house for New Year's, where it will be 40 every day. Wonderfully hot, but the sun is too intense for me to be out for even a few minutes. We stay up til 5 or 6AM and then sleep til mid afternoon when we're there, it's the only way people can function.

However, to stay on topic, my garden was underwater for a few hours today due to today's freak storm. Hope my new plants are OK, i just put in a whole bunch of new things this morning. (not even thinking about the okra and cuke and japanese onion seeds i put in).

It was so hot at my gym over the weekend that my Pump instructor kept stopping the class to get more fans and make the front desk staff put wet towels in the freezer to bring out to us. She was going to cancel the class after ours because it was so hot, but other people started turning up for it. I had planned to go to that class too, but I was out of there as soon as Pump finished. I went home and made ice cream and then ate half of it before it even got to the freezer. forking summer.

39C tomorrow (that's 102F). For once I'm glad I work in a large office tower with freezing air conditioning.

oh oh i rescind. I learned this morning that Summer officially begins on Dec 21, which seems awfully late. It is certainly really springy lately.

Solstice. Summer here is usually defined by mean temperature (though we'll usually say June-August). Since this is Sweden the definiton is that the daily mean has to be over 10C for at least 5 days in a row. Depending on year and where in the country you live this is usually sometime between May and late June. Same goes for the other seasons, meteorologiacally speaking.

Clear sky and -12C today. Any Australians interested in some ot the coolness? I have more than I need! At least all this snow is making it lighter and brighter outside. Sun sets at 2 PM. I don't mind. At least we have daylight here...

But of course!

Yes please! I feel horrible for using air conditioning, but I have to be able to do research and think from 8:30am. #hypocracy

I got caught in the first snow of the year when I was cycling to school today. It was so windy. Also, snow in Holland is hardly ever proper snow, it's always wet. The two combined felt like trying to cycle to school while constantly being hit in the face with wet tissues. I hate getting snow in my eyes.

I am so sad that today continues to be grey, damp and dreary. Forecast for the week indicates no snow whatsoever, and temperatures all well above freezing. I need some snow!!! I can not feel properly festive without it. And if it doesn't snow soon my husband will bisque like crazy over not being able to snowmobile.

Everything is wet! I love my cute dog but she is short and hairy and gets drenched taking five steps!

Still 30 degrees at 10pm. Fork you summer.

how interesting!! we have unstable weather and can have weather over 20C for 5 days in a row in the winter, so that system wouldn't work too well [and there is so much variation from one area to another, some areas get monsoon/rainy season, others have 4 distinct seasons]. i don't think we defined summer/seasons by the date of the solstice in the US, though i could be wrong, it just seems so strange.

it is hot and beautiful today. we had torrential rains over the last two days and so much was flooded and damaged by storm winds.

Definition of winter is below 0C for 5 days in a row (daily average temperature). The temperature may rise (or fall for the seasons defined by a temperature above 0 or 10) after that and it will still be the same. In fact it very often does. Winter will be counted from the first day of the 5 day period. Of course when people talk, they usually use calendar month definition. Winter by meteorological definiton doesn't come to the southern parts of the country until January but everyone sees December as a winter month anyway. /weather geek

very cool! (i like weather geek)

It is very windy and wet here. I guess we're getting a bit of that California "super-storm". Still, I like it a million times better than snow/having to drive in snow/this is why I moved to the coast. I just don't want to lose power at work because that happens pretty much whenever the wind blows and I have a tonne of shiitake to finish.

Ugh, I have a long haired doxie. 'Tis the season of keeping an old towel in the entry way so he doesn't get the whole house wet and dirty. Snow is the "best" though... five steps and his chest hair is full of ice balls.

Torque, we definitely define the seasons by the solstices and equinoxes here. That's how it's printed on all the calendars and the weather people on the news always cheerily tell you exactly what time summer arrives, not just what day.