As I type this post, it is snowing furiously outside and I can see gusts of giant snowflakes blowing past the window. It has been such a cold winter and this is already the third time it has snowed here this year. While we were in San Francisco for our second annual end of December to end of January visit, there was a big snowstorm in this area that left deep snow on the ground for days – very rare for Provence. My wonderful student Alex Niot gave me a memory stick full of gorgeous photos he took while wandering around Avignon after that storm. With his kind permission, I’ve created an album of them here.

Beautiful as the snow is, the effects of the January storm have been disastrous to the trees in our region. The pines and olive trees are used to being pummeled by the Mistral, but not used to heaps of wet heavy snow weighing them down. When we came home from the States, we were so shocked and saddened to see how many trees either had huge branches broken off or were completely uprooted by the snow. Wood-cutting crews are still working to clean up the damage after more than a month. I’m hoping today’s snow is gone by tomorrow morning without any more loss of trees.

The sights of Avignon in the snow are lovely and show the beauty of this exquisite city in views most tourists never see. Thank you so much, Alex, for sharing them.

Ruth

Categories: Environment, Provence
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