Hot, snowy and pink

On the last day of January, I took a photo of the confused trees in my apartment complex. It was so warm, they thought it was spring so they started popping out pink buds. The following day (February 1st) it got to 75°F. That kind of warmth in winter never happens around here. We usually get cold and stay that way for six months.

The guards at my apartment complex put Christmas lights in the trees for Chinese New Year (Chinese New Year was January 31st this year). Is it a tradition to put lights in trees for CNY? No. They just thought it looked pretty.

Four days later it was snowing. And the week after that it snowed even more. It didn't stick (not much anyway). All these are pics from that general time frame. There's no snow in the photos, just wet pavement that resulted from it.

Super-sleuth Mimi. Hiding in the grass. Cats beware.

 Look at that plume tail!

Her paw hair has since been trimmed. It really grows fast! It was so long she was almost tripping over it when she jumped on the park bench. I would cut it more often if she wouldn't wiggle around so much when I got the scissors out.

I bet all this pink is making you dizzy. I bet you're headed to the kitchen for a bitter cup of coffee to cut through all the sweetness of this post. Even I'm a little overwhelmed, and I kind of like pink. Don't worry, I'll choose a non-pink color for my next post.

Not the plan

I was supposed to be eating Thai food in the night market in Chiang Mai tonight, and instead I am watching it snow from my hotel room in Kunming.

Uh ... it never snows in Kunming. This city is supposed to be the land of eternal spring, where it is 70°F year-round. The people here are weirdly giddy.

I didn't bring the right clothes for this kind of stuff. I brought capri pants and sandals, not sweaters and long johns.

It was snowing when I left Shanghai this morning and it was snowing when I got to Kunming. They are on opposite sides of the country. I think it must have been snowing everywhere in-between as well.

Due to the weather mayhem, I missed my connecting flight. I certainly wasn't expecting to spend more than 2 hours in Kunming, but God must have had other plans for me. I got a hotel room and booked another flight for tomorrow. Thailand, hopefully I'll be seeing you mañana. And please be warm because I packed my summer clothes!

Pleasant weather

This winter has been pleasant. It's still plenty cold, but we've had far more sunshine than usual, and slightly warmer temperatures than in my previous winters here.

Weekend before last, we had a highly rare blast of warm winter temperatures, and it was 75°F on February 1st! I didn't have to wear a jacket or long johns. This has happened here NEVER before on my watch. Unlike Texas where the weather jumps up and down all winter long, here it is consistently frigid all winter, until now.

While the warm weather was here, a young friend came to stay for 10 days. We did some sightseeing in the nice weather.

The warm weather lasted only about a week though, then we had snow. It snowed again today.

I'm going to Thailand next Tuesday. It is in the 90s there. I'm digging out my summer clothes and sandals. Feels really strange to do so when it is snowing outside!

Thundersnow

When I went to bed last night, I knew snow was in the forecast, and expected to wake up to a white world.

What I didn't expect was to be awakened at 4 a.m. with a loud roar of THUNDER. It kind of freaked me out a little, but poor Mimi was more terrified than I have ever seen her. She jumped off the bed, tucked her tail in, hid under a chair (it would presumably save her from being crushed if the sky fell on her), and wouldn't come out for hours. Not even the fireworks of Chinese New Year scared Mimi like this did.

I wondered how our snow storm could have changed into a thunderstorm. I peeked out the window and was surprised to see it was actually snowing after hearing that sound. I've never known of thunder and snow occurring in the same weather event. 

So then, I went back to bed, and I wondered if a meteor had possibly flown through the air like one did in Russia a few days ago. Yeah, that must be it. It surely could not have been thunder, right?

But I got on the Internet this morning, and sure enough, there is a rare phenomenon known as "thundersnow." 

Thundersnow is known for producing thick snow fast. True to form, this is the most snow we've ever gotten in such a short period of time, in all MY days in the Middle Kingdom at least. If you want to see a video of thundersnow -- not MY video, just some random video -- you can see it here: http://boingboing.net/2013/02/08/thundersnow.html

I thought when I moved south I was moving to balmy weather. We've had snow about 4-5 times already this winter. What's up with that?