Snow?

Yes that is correct - winter has come to Beijing. We were not exactly blanketed in a layer of whiteness by the snowfall, but we did see a few flakes in the headlights of some cars as we were walking home Friday night. I guess that is all you can hope for when the city you live in is located in the center of a desert.

The real sign of winter is the crazy cold wind that is constantly whipping through the city. We can hear it past our windows all night long. It is currently 21°F (-6°C for you crazy Canadians) but with that 20 mph (32 kph) wind it feels like 6°F (-14°C).

Yesterday, it was cold enough that the camera refused to stay on. While we couldn't see the message it gave us when it turned itself off (My un-gloved hands were shaking too much to be able to read the little screen. Maybe that should have been a clue.) we speculated that it probably said something like, "Do you people not realize how crazy damn cold it is right now? It's like -4°F with windchill and you are trying to take a picture?!? Put me away and get into some shelter! Sheesh..."

The upside, as we have probably mentioned before, is that all the wind blows away the pollution so we have actually been able to see the mountains around the city for a few days in a row!