For anyone who thought the south of France basked in eternal sunshine – you are wrong!
This week I think we had more snow than we’ve had at any time during the last 10 years (perhaps 15 centimetres?) and startlingly cold temperatures.
Last night it was minus 16 centigrade which is pretty cold for anyone who doesn’t live close to the arctic circle or on top of a mountain.
Apparently at some point in the middle of last century temperatures here fell below -20 degrees but that was a long time ago!
Daughter 2 is of course disappointed that school has been closed all week and almost certainly will still be tomorrow – minor roads are still completely iced over and apparently its too cold to spread salt!
Between us and the nearest ‘main road’ is a two kilometres long ice rink, which school buses dare not drive along.
A lot of people we know have had frozen pipes and are still waiting for temperatures to drift above zero so that they can clean their teeth or have a cup of tea.
Ah yes, we all insulate our outdoor water pipes and pipes in attics even in the south of France – but how many of us remembered that it can get cold enough to penetrate into utility rooms and annexes.
Or that extreme cold can freeze the uninsulated parts of pipes in the walls between two rooms, even if the pipes either side are insulated?
We’ll find out next week when everything is forecast to thaw out – reserve your plumber now, I think they are going to be busy.
Meanwhile it’s extra fleeces and fingers crossed all round, and another pile of logs in the woodburner!
Hey, you must have nicked our snow! We were told we were having 10cm here in Hampshire, UK but had none, not a flake, in our garden. Lovely pictures though, hope the big freeze is followed be a calm and hazardless thaw and there is nothing dramatic to report pipe-wise!
Hi Johanne, I hope next time it’s all yours – it’s nice for a day or two but now I’ll be pleased to see it gone!
well, we are having great weather here in Ireland. Mild sunny and we are all set for spring. There are flowers growing in the garden and that since end of january.
So, you just all keep your snow and enjoy it……
We had bulbs and flowers starting to come out at the end of January but I’m not sure how good they’ll look when the snow melts!
Mrs B is disappointed because we have a mimosa ‘plantation’, which would have been flowering soon, but every few years it gets horribly damaged when temperatures fall below about -10 and then takes at least two or three years to recover before flowering again. Thought we were in for a lovely display until the big freeze turned up…
Sympathise about the mimosa…ours would just recover and then another hard winter would knock it back…