We are finally into Fall here. It took a while. We enjoyed a nice summer with flowers still blooming right through last week. The forecast now is for negative temperatures every night. My planters have been cleaned out. The outside water taps in the condo complex will be shut off next week. And soon there will be snow.
We don’t
get a lot of snow here, compared to many areas in eastern Canada or the
northeast US. Our climate is dry, bordering on semi-desert so there is not as much
moisture in the air to turn into the hard stuff.
There are
good things and bad things about snow, although you would not convince our
friends who live in the southern US or Australia that anything positive could
come from having a white blanket fall on you.
Snowfall
Around the World
In Calgary
we average 129 cm (51 in) of snow per year. Montreal gets 210 cm (83 in). Our
nation’s capital, Ottawa, receives 175 cm (69 in) and Toronto gets 122 cm (48
in). St. John’s, Newfoundland, gets a whopping 335 cm (132 in).
Notable
places around the world include Buffalo, New York, with 241 cm (95 in) and New
York City with only 64 cm (25 in). Moscow, Russia, averages 152 cm (60 in). Sapporo,
Japan, despite being very warm in the summer, averages 485 cm (191 in) of snow
per year.
We are used to a bit of snow, though, and rarely let it stop us from doing what we want. Take the photo shown here yesterday of ardent golfers braving the elements.
Snow in
Inuit communities
One of the
things that has stuck with me over the years is something I read about the
different kinds of snow as described by northern societies, the Inuit. I think
it was either in the book, My Life With the Eskimo, by Vihjalmur
Stefansson, first published in 1913, or in People of the Deer by Farley
Mowat, published in 1952. Both are worth reading by the way.
Anyway, it has
been said, and written, by many people that there were over 50 words for snow,
depending on its quality, moisture content, usefulness in building igloos, etc.
Part of that idea is myth; part of it is in how different conditions in which
snow is found are described and what that might mean to daily living or
hunting. That can be important because, for many months of year, northern communities
lived every day with snow.
The idea
about there being many words for snow may come from how snow or snow conditions
are described, much as we southerners might use different phrases. For example,
some of the Eskimo-Aleut lexemes for snow include:
·
qanuk:
snowflake
·
kaneq:
frost
·
kanevvluk:
fine snow
·
qanikcaq:
snow on ground
·
muruaneq:
soft deep snow
·
nutaryuk:
fresh snow
·
pirta:
blizzard
·
qengaruk:
snowbank
 |
Photo of people in a northern community from My
Life With the Eskimo (Stefansson, 1912)
Snow Superstitions
A lot of
superstitions have spring up over the centuries concerning snow. (possibly by
many who wished it would go away?)
Did you
know that if you throw a shovelful of the first snow over your head you will not be
cold all winter? Apparently if snow falls on your head from a pine tree, that
means good luck.
It was also
believed that seeing bloodstains on snow meant good luck, but if the stains
were partly obliterated, it would be bad luck to come across them.
If kids
want a snow day, to keep schools, closed, they should put a spoon under their
pillow, or flush ice cubes down the toilet, or put their pyjamas on inside out,
or do some combination of the three.
One of the
oldest tales involves the wooly caterpillar, or tiger moth larvae. If the brown
bands are narrow, then a harsh winter with lots of snow is coming.
There is an
old poem about Candlemas Day, or as we think of it, Groundhog
Day, that has to do with snow – this one a New England version:
As far as the sun shines in on Candlemas Day,
So far the snow blows in before May Day.
If Candlemas day be fair and bright,
Winter will take another flight;
If chance to fall a shower of rain,
Winter will not come again.
If Candlemas Day be bright and
clear,
Be sure you will have two winters that year.
The
Little Ice Age
One of my
favourite subjects to write about is the Little Ice Age. It was a period when
lives and lifestyles were significantly altered due to the persistent cold and
bad weather – including snow.
Snow was
almost everywhere! Regions from the Arctic to southern Europe experienced snowstorms.
There was more of it and it stayed on the ground for months longer than it does
today.
Between
1560 and 1630, during the coldest part of the period, poor and erratic weather
was common with frequent and unseasonal snowstorms across Europe. Artwork from
those times reflect the wintery conditions commonly experienced.
Harvests
were impacted by the bad weather, often by snow and frost, resulting in famine
conditions. In Manchuria, for example, there were several years between 1573
and 1620 when there was extreme snowfall which a negative effect on
agricultural production and livestock populations.
 |
Pieter Brueghel the Elder’s Hunters in the Snow,
painted in 1565 |
Enjoying
the Snow
Yes, you
can!
Where we
live, families take the time to enjoy the snow, skiing, tobogganing, snowball
fights, making snowmen, snow forts or snow angels. Or just bury yourself in it!
If you can get to the countryside you might enjoy a sleigh ride.
There are,
of course, lots of songs that celebrate snow as well. Some of the classics are
I’ve got My Love to Keep Me Warm (Billie Holiday), Snowbird (Anne Murray), White Christmas (Bing Crosby), Sleigh Ride (Andrews sisters), Frosty the Snowman (Gene Autry), Let it Snow (Rosemary Clooney)
Shoveling
snow off sidewalks and driveways is not fun, but we do get our exercise, and
it’s a way to entertain the grandchildren.
Whatever
you may think about snow, I hope you get a chance to enjoy this winter with
your family, with or without the white stuff. We intend to after having missed
being able to do it for the last couple of plague-filled years.
Also enjoy this recitation of a famous poem by Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.
