What a Difference a Day or Two Makes

So after the snowstorm subsided, the sun came out yesterday and has continued melting all but a few spots of northern-exposure land and roof tops. At least with a March snow, we can count on its effects not lingering for long. So we are just about ready for Spring!

Here are the updated pictures of Padua's featured areas from Wednesday's entry, coming again from Wecam Padova - Webcam Meteo:

Basilica Sant'Antonio

Note: from this Padova Est photo, you might think we are in America due to the sheer quantity of traffic lanes. This demonstrates how much of a pole Padua is for commerce and industry, not to mention serving the residents. There's some serious traffic here, although the time of day doesn't reveal that here. Yesterday it took me 35 minutes to travel 2 miles within the city at lunchtime.

Snow in March?

I live in Italy which is not a country that is famous for its snowfall, unless you live in the mountains, which I visit very often but have not chosen as my permanent abode.

Northeast Italy and the Pianura Padana is well-known for grey skies and fog, perhaps, during the winter, but not for snow, especially in March! Yet here we are with the calendar telling us that Spring is 11 days away but we are braving a small blizzard: high winds and snow predicted to keep falling for 24 hours straight.

It was warm last week. We had all started to think about la bella stagione, but frigid temps hit on Sunday and have been steadily falling since. Yesterday on my scooter, I thought I was going to lift off and fly away with the wind, it was so strong. My hands were frozen after 15 minutes of driving even though I was wearing the heaviest ski gloves I own.

These recent webcam pics of Basilica Sant'Antonio and the roads at Padova Est should give you a feel of our weather situation. For updated images every 30 seconds of these sites and many others, go to Webcam Padova - Webcam Meteo.




The snow is sticking to everything, including the webcam lenses.

A White and Black Christmas

So it was a very white Christmas in the Dolomites this year for me. I went snowshoeing in the San Pellegrino and Valles areas pictured above. The views were spectacular. The new shoes worked wonderfully.

Down in the valley, it rained for 27 hours straight from Christmas Eve through Christmas Day. The rain was obviously snow up at these higher altitudes and lay over a few other meters of recent snow. Usually, this kind of combination makes for lots of lovely powder but can be dangerous. The new layers only lightly adhere to the lower layers. Snow generally needs a few days to settle and become more solid, and especially safely join with the older snow.

So why am I talking about this? Because the Arpav bulletin warned a level 4 (on a scale of 5) for avalanche risks after Christmas. Yet 2 alpine enthusiasts launched out on snowshoes to check the conditions of an iced-over waterfall. They ventured into a particularly dangerous area at Sass Pordoi and went missing. The Protezione Civile sent 4 volunteers to look for the missing people, Fabio Baron e Diego Andreatta. Drammatically and sadly all 6 were killed from the avalanche danger in the area. Ervin Riz, Luca Prinoth, Diego Perathoner and Alex Dentone were the alpine emergency volunteers who lost their lives trying to help others.

Obviously this loss has angered many who blame the stupidity of the alpinists who first went missing with the Arpav published warnings. Some say that the volunteers should not go out to help when there is a level 4 danger. The volunteers do not want to make that kind of judgement call when their job is to help people in need. It is a painful situation, especially for the community of Val di Fassa and Canazei, where the volunteers lived and worked.

The mountains I chose to visit were on a high plain and had hills, not mountain walls, that flanked the snowshoe path. The avalanche risk is not high in that situation.

The mountains have claimed many lives and particularly those of emergency service people. There was a helicopter crash earlier this year that I wrote about here.

The beautiful snow white, turned black with grief just after Christmas.

We all need to be responsible as we go out in the snow.

An Exceptional Snowfall

I could write about the difficulties of travelling along the highways.
I could write about the problems with the local tram which was stuck at the stop, Trieste, yesterday morning and halted city service for at least 30 minutes.
I could talk about the icy roads.
I could talk about the delayed buses.
I could talk about the shopping centers exploding with people, especially in the skiwear section.
I could talk about the miserably cold stand owners in the city center that lacked their normal Christmas customers because they were all at the heated shopping centers.
I could talk about Berlusconi's health and theories about his attack.
I could talk about frigid temperatures at -5° C.
I could talk about my dog's swollen anal glands.

But I'm not going to...

I don't care...

Because it snowed 12" in Padua.

An Exceptional Event

Some drive-by images:

Prato della Valle

Under Santa Giustina

Along V. Gattamelata

We all turn into children with our city covered in this white blanket!