Wet snow

Snow has been on the ground in Belarus since early December.  But temperatures have varied markedly.  So while it was -18°C late on 23^rd December when I drove out to Minsk airport, by the evening of Christmas Day (ie 25^th December) it was above freezing.

I shouldn’t be so surprised at the range of temperature.  Belarus is on the same latitude as England, between 50 and 56 degrees north.  But Belarus has a continental climate, land-locked as it is in Eastern Europe and subject to large changes in temperature.

Britain has a mild, maritime climate with far less swings in temperature.  (The sea heats up and cools down more slowly than land.)  It is especially mild in Britain thanks to the Gulf Stream, the warm ocean current that comes from the Gulf of Mexico, 7,000 km to the south-west.

So whereas the average temperature in Minsk is -4.4°C in January and 18.7°C in July, almost exactly due west in Nottingham, average temperatures range between 3.9°C in January to 16.7°C in July.  Not massively different in absolute terms, but the length of time below freezing makes living in Belarus very different from Britain.

Snow and frost are a fact of life here.  I’m still surprised to see workers in orange overalls emerge to clear the streets and pavements with special tractors and ploughs after the snowfalls.  Despite the snow and ice, the citizens of Minsk walk confidently on the streets, and the women stride along in their high heels. I walk around with small steps, careful not to slip over.

Temperatures have again risen above freezing this week, but they keep dipping below, so there is continual freeze-thaw.  There has been “мокрый снег” (mokry sneg or “wet snow”) as the weather forecasts describe it.

There’s also been a lot snow this winter in Britain.  Most is “wet snow” and since disappeared.  It’s only in the mountains of Scotland, Wales and North England that snow covers the ground for weeks and months on end.

When I was growing up in the 1960s and 70s, snow was a rare occurrence.  Now we have heavy falls every year.  The snow usually melts after a few days, but not before blocking transport routes and impeding movement across the country.

The increased snow (and, perhaps more importantly, complaints of passengers) had persuaded both London’s major airports – Gatwick and Heathrow – to invest millions of pounds in snow clearing equipment in the last two years.  Despite the extra investment, some flights were still delayed and cancelled last month due to the snow.

Indeed the snow may be another sign that the British climate is becoming more extreme.  We seem to have had record rain, drought or high temperatures each year.  Our national weather service, the Met Office (or Meteorological Office as it used to be known) has a mass of data setting how the UK’s recent weather has changed.

So it may not be so long before Britons become used to walking on ice and/or wet snow.