Siberian Seasons

It’s one month out from summer in central Siberia and it’s been snowing today. Nothing unusual about that. It usually snows a few times in June too.

What WAS unusual was that we had 28 degrees a couple of weeks ago, which may have prematurely lifted my hopes for the warmth of summer. Over the last week or so green grass has been poking through the thawed ground and garden beds in the city have young tulip stems promising burst of long awaited colour. Finally we can look forward to a short and precious reprieve from the grey and the dust as green lifts the mood of all and sundry.

The weather in Siberia really is a different beast from what I’m used to. The locals say it’s 9 months of winter and 3 months of Autumn. That’s probably about right. I’ve posted a photo from a Russian children’s text book which illustrates the months of the year. It tells it better than I could!