Tag Archives: winter weather

Cuckoos and Winter Weather 2017-18

Posted on 02/04/2018 by

If you live almost anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere, you don’t need me to tell you that it has been a dismal, gloomy winter. The technical reason, apparently, is a “heatwave” in the Arctic, which has pushed the Arctic Jet … Continue reading →

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All Aboard le “Moscou-Paris”

Posted on 25/02/2018 by

It sounds rather like a jolly luxury express, doesn’t it? A competitor, perhaps, to the Orient Express, with starched white tablecloths, gleaming silverware and sycophantic stewards. If only it were. In fact, le “Moscou-Paris” is the meteorologists’ nickname for a … Continue reading →

Posted in Weather | Tagged , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

Can Spring be far Behind?

Posted on 12/03/2017 by

The literary-minded will notice that the title is a quotation from Percy Bysshe Shelley’s ‘Ode to the West Wind’, written in 1819 while the poet was staying in Florence. The poem can be interpreted in various ways, the most simplistic … Continue reading →

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Unwintry Winter

Posted on 07/02/2016 by

I took this shot of a red squirrel four years ago, in February 2012, when we had two weeks of temperatures well below zero and snow as well. Our lane was like an ice-rink, it took 10 minutes to warm … Continue reading →

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Preparing for Winter

Posted on 09/09/2015 by

This might seem a little premature. After all, we’re only in early September and it’s still summer officially. But heating these old stone houses has to be taken very seriously. The summers can be blisteringly hot here in SW France, … Continue reading →

Posted in French life, Weather | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Signs of Spring and Southwest France Weather February 2015

Posted on 01/03/2015 by

 The SF (Statistics Freak to the uninitiated) tells me that winter runs from November to February. Personally, I feel it’s longer than that, but it’s better not to argue with the expert. Even so, by the end of February, I … Continue reading →

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Weather in Southwest France: Verdict on Winter 2012-13

Posted on 04/03/2013 by

I could sum up this winter’s weather in one word. But it’s not repeatable in polite company, so I’ll try to do it in a more measured way. The SF (Statistics Freak – my husband) is the brains behind the … Continue reading →

Posted in Weather | Tagged , , , , , , | 14 Comments