The day it snowed in Wellington

What a great day it's been!

Actually, what a great couple of days - snow, snow, snow, snow, snow, snow, snow, snow! In Wellington! How crazy is that?

By the time we finished band practice last night it was snowing in downtown Wellington - big fat wobbly flakes of snow that reduced most of us to 6-year-olds as we pranced around outside enjoying every cold moment of it.

Hazel and I went to Alice's house for tea (we threw snowballs at Hamish on the way which was very funny) and when it was time for me to drive home it was a veritable blizzard. It was completely surreal driving carefully through the quiet streets as the snow whirled around my car like a swarm of angry white bees - something I don't think I've experienced since I was a student in the UK about a million years ago.

Here are a couple of pictures taken from my house last night:

Street lights illuminating the whirling snow

A wider view of the snow-clad valley

Yesterday's MetService 3-day snow warning for Wellington - saved for posterity


This morning I was very excited to see that some of last night's snow was still there - not much - but it was definitely snow! Too cool....

I thought that was snow on the hills last night - but it was too dark to tell - daylight brings clarity, and I never imagined I'd ever see our little hills with a dusting of the white stuff!

A teeny bit of snow in my back garden this morning

Snow on the Rimutakas


I was in town today - and I'm so glad I was because - not content with giving us a bit of a blizzard last night - it decided to do it all over again today!

Obligatory picture of me in the snow


Snow on Taranaki Street


@stephenfry tweeted about all of us going nuts in the Wellington snow:



And then he tweeted that the whole country was losing the plot:

Bless!


And someone called Ro Tierney made the most beautiful video of snow on Cuba Mall (and how happy it makes people feel). LOVE IT:

Snow on Cuba Mall in central Wellington (HD) from Ro Tierney on Vimeo.

I love the way that weird and wonderful natural events bring out the best in people - our inner child was on full display today.

The girl waiting at the bus stop this morning gave me a huge smile as I approached and told me how much she loved my coat (crazy purple felted hippy coat from Sweden).

When it began to snow this morning everyone raced to the windows to look, and then raced outside to take photos and dance around catching snowflakes on their sleeves.

The bus driver this evening was giving us all a running commentary and making sure he told everyone the route had changed 'cos the hill up to Karori was too steep and snowy for the buses to get up.

By the time I got home it was nearly dark, but I got a few shots of my street in the dusky snow-light. Lovely!

Snowy street, snowy cars

Snowy street looking down the valley

Winter wonderland

Snow-clad cabbage tree

My back garden - with somewhat more snow than there was this morning


Yup - for a once-in-50-years experience - this one has been pretty special.

Maybe it'll do it all again tomorrow! Fingers crossed!

Technorati tags: Wellington, snow, New Zealand, snowing, Ro Tierney, video, Vimeo, YouTube, Stephen Fry, @stephenfry, twitter, tweet, weather, snow at sea-level, photos, pictures, winter, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.