Crazy Weather – Marseille Edition January 12, 2009
Posted by gordonwatts in life, Snow.trackback
The French city of Marseille is not one you would normally think of being under snow. After all, it is right on the Med. But a lot of places are getting hit by snow that don’t normally get hit by snow. We lived there for a year last year and we never saw snow. I think we may have seen a few flakes… but nothing actually hit ground. As one of my friends there put it:
Snow in Marseille. Has not happened in at least the last four years. Nobody has snow tires and the city says they cannot find the salt truck (seriously).
Another friend of ours put it thus: “Great for the kids, sucks for the adults.”
Here is a picture I took from the apartment balcony last year when we were in Marseille:
and here is what it looks like now (taken by the current residents of the appartment):
The images from flickr are impressive. My friend has been walking around the city taking pictures, and just the general pictures posted all over flickr.
And Marseille isn’t the only place that has been crazy. For a little while last week Seattle was cut off from the rest of the country. Both of the big interstates out of town were cut off – I5 and I90. Water and snow was closing them!
There was snow in Aix last year. It stayed on the ground for only a short time but it was exquisite to see the snow atop the red tile roofs sparkling in the sunshine.
Hello Gordon,
Yes it has been exceptional weather in France last week. We could skate on natural ice near Paris (which happens once every 5-10 years).
You must have seen many backpackers streaming into Marseille, as you lived near the train station in Marseille
I spent two wonderful weeks in Marseille some years ago in the summer. Very nice city!
Season greetings from Arjen
That is right — we did see a little snow in Aix. I miss that. And seasons greetings to you as well Arjen – Marseille in the summer is fantastic!