You know how some people get broody, wanting a baby? Or how others get the same feeling for a dog? Well, I think I'm getting it for snow!
Not helped by poring through a photo album, which included pictures of my 5-year-old self in the snow in the same garden which is now green and muddied.
Combined with posts on the MO thread, it reminded me of why I love snow so much at this time of year (and why I'm so disappointed most years). As I write this it's half two in the afternoon, cloudy and dull. The lights are on indoors and it's the sort of day where you're glad to be in a warm, cosy environment. Truth be told, the past couple of days it's been dull even at noon, a reminder of just how low the sun is in the sky at this time of year.
You know what would make it better? Snow, of course. A thick blanket on the ground would not only make things brighter, in that special way that reflected light from snow does, but it muffles and dampens sound - there's a hush all over the land, or something like that! Of course with various lights on show (from bright green ones on the main road from the parish council, to the invariably white or yellow ones people have these days, and even my own 1980s multicoloured Christmas tree lights) it would feel even more special were it to snow...
All I want is just one proper white Christmas before I snuff it. I don't have any family to share it with any more, but damn it I really don't want to die having never seen snow falling and settling on the day... 53 years this year, and that's far too long really (bear in mind I'm 44!)
That said, every winter I'm thankful for being the age that I am. My childhood coincided with regular deep (6"+) snowfalls, icicles, ice days and all the rest. The weather was magical, and though some years it didn't snow, you could rely on it snowing again a year or two later. That all stopped when I turned 18, and the snow events then have generally been fleeting and unimpressive. The late Philip Eden said at the time that 2005 would be the last great easterly, and he was right (it snowed every day for 2 weeks in 2005, and it was wonderful).
2018 is as near as we've come since, but it was snuffed out only a couple of days after it started... a tantalising glimpse of what we once had, what we once accepted as normal, unremarkable.
I know for most there are more opportunities, and as Howham has posted, up north it's not even that unusual to have snow. But down here in the far SE, sheltered from anything from the north, we really do need an old school easterly. As I posted many years back, the death of the midwinter easterly is a mystery. Until it comes back - if it ever does - we'll just have to make do with scraps, and be thankful for whatever dusting of snow might be eked out.
Ah well, not long until the 12z runs come out. As usual, you'll find me poring through the various models and ensembles, ever on the look out for that elusive snowy spell!