Something Wintry This Way Comes

It’s amazing how quickly the seasons change here. Only two weeks ago, there was only a crisp autumn chill in the air to accompany the autumn leaves. And while I knew it was coming, I still wasn’t prepared to wake up…to this.

And so it begins.

Winter is here, and rather than gently easing open the door, it crashed through with a massive bang, whether you were ready for it or not. Today isn’t even technically 初雪 (“hatsuyuki,” or the first snow of the season); that honor belonged to Sunday afternoon. Naturally, I was out on my bike when the snow started to fall, and I looked an awfully lot like the snowman from the Campbell’s Soup commercials of old by the time I got home. Tohoku wind and Aomori snow make for quite a force to be reckoned with for a bicyclist.

And neither my bike nor I am happy that I’ll soon be stowing it again until spring rears its head…five months from now.

Regardless, though, that snowfall didn’t stick for more than an hour or two. Though the weather forecast for the next few days predicts temperature in the low forties, I’m not optimistic. After all, it also predicted that it would rain this morning.

Newsflash: that’s not rain.

I took that very first picture this morning before I hopped in the shower, around 6:15 or so. By the time I left for work an hour later, a couple inches had accumulated on my street. Even now, I’m watching big, wet flakes from my office window. It also doesn’t really half-heartedly snow in Aomori. Nah, the snow here takes the “here, have flakes the size of your eyeballs, and while you’re marveling at them, here’s another foot to keep you occupied” approach.

See you in April…