Where did the snow go?

We have been having such a mild winter this year as compared to last year.  Last winter was nice and snowy and white.  There was snow even until late winter and early spring.  I remember walking on snow a lot and had to often wear warm clothing even inside the apartment. It was really cold.  

This time, we had a few hours of snow early in December, but none after that.  I thought it was going to be another wintery, snowy December but it turned out I was tricked. The temperature rose after that and worse of all, there was a lot of rain. It felt more like fall, but without the beautiful brown, yellow and orange leaves littering the ground.  If only it was colder, we would have snow instead of rain.  

And it really rained a lot.  My sisters came to visit in the middle of December and I was really hoping we would get snow but no.  Rain came down instead.  And it was cold and grey most of the time.  Not really great weather to show off to our visitors. Needless to say, my sister didn't really enjoy the stay.  She felt it was too cold and I don't blame her.  It's no fun walking around in the rain in temperatures of 4 or 5C and in wet clothes.

Anyway, after giving up on the idea of a snowy winter, it snowed yesterday afternoon.  Pete and I had to go to town and I was lucky to have checked the weather forecast before heading out. Since it hadn't been too cold ( I have pretty much adapted to the lower temperatures ) I haven't been wearing too many layers when I head out.  But when I checked the weather forecast yesterday, I saw that the temperature could go lower than 0C.  

When I stepped out of the door, the wind blew into my face and the biting cold jolted me awake.  It hasn't been so cold this winter.  I was so glad for the extra layers and scarf that I put on.  Even Pete felt that it was cold, and for that snowman to say it's cold, you know that it's cold.  But it didn't snow when we were out.

Some time after we got home, I looked out the window and saw big flakes of snow falling down and coating everything in white. Beautiful! The balcony was full of stuff we brought home from our kitchen but there was space to stand and look out at the wintery scene.  But I couldn't stay there too long.  It got really cold in the balcony. I didn't realize one of the cats snuck into the balcony too and closed the door.  When I heard the familiar scratching noise, I opened the door and sure enough, Nymeria, the ever-curious girl was there. I picked her up and he whole body was cold.  She also couldn't stay long there.

The snow continued to fall for a couple more hours. As the sun started to set, I could see some kids playing in the snow.  I guess I wasn't the only one who missed the snow.  I guess they decided to play in the snow since who knows it would snow again.  And the kids made the best decision.  When we got to bed, there was snow everywhere. But when I woke up this morning, there wasn't a trace of snow at all.  It rained during the night and melted all the snow.  I wonder when I'll see snow again.