Sunday, November 23, 2014

Into the Winter Paradise

Every October I start to wait it. Winter. Periodically I look for news how winter has started in Northern Hemisphere. I follow some long range weather forecasts and discussions on the Internet, and especially development of Arctic Oscillation and North Atlantic Oscillation.

Living in South-Western Finland, close to Baltic Sea, usually means that the wait is long. Early winter arrives here rarely. It happened in 2010, and the whole winter was incredible. Last winter (2013-2014) was almost complete opposite. November and December were very mild and wet. It was fairly cold for three weeks in January, but there was hardly any snow. After that we got snow once in early February and once in early March.

The old saying goes here that "years are not brothers to each other", and every year is different some way. Indeed, the fall and early winter has been different so far. We got first snow on 6th November, but it melted away the next day. The temperatures have been generally lower this November, so things have been looking sligthly better.

Friday, 21th November:


We got about 8 cm of snow and paradise was everywhere!





I decided to go for a short overnighter on Saturday-Sunday night, because weather forecasts were looking bad for next week.

After a great day with my family, I rode to a shelter close to my home that I found recently, in the middle of the night:








 It was late, so I prepared my sleeping system and went to sleep.


And a good night it was, as was the morning with coffee and sandwich:




The morning was beautiful:



The new 45NRTH Wölvhammer boots kept my feet warm and comfortable:


And the new 45NRTH Vanhelga is really unbeliavable snow tire. No other tire has been so secure and with so much traction!


It was a great morning in the winter paradise and I enjoyed every moment of it.






Later in the afternoon I went for ride into the nearby woods.


This was a great weekend. Weather forecasts are now looking for above freezing temps and even some rain, so this paradise will be at least partly vanished. Hopefully it will come back soon.