#613. More pics of The Blizzard of 2016

#612. Winter storm Jonas, aka "snowzilla"

As predicted at the end of a previous post (#610) it did snow this weekend - but as you probably saw on your local news service, it was an historic snow event with 26.8" (approx 68 cm) recorded in Central Park, just 0.1" shy of the record for a NYC snowfall set in 2006. it snowed for more than 24 hrs, at the rate of 2.5 cm/minute, with strong winds causing blizzard conditions at times, and the roads were closed at 2.30 pm, and public transport shutdown and all the stores closed. Luckily the power stayed on.

The snow ended around midnight and has dawned fine and sunny today - should be spectacular in Central Park, where we will be going sledding today. When Kate thought the kids would see snow for the first time while here, they certainly made it an experience to remember.

#611. Berkshires winter vacation

We rented the Chevrolet Suburban SUV below and the six of us drove up to western Massachusetts to enjoy winter in the beautiful Berkshires and to give the kids their first shot at skiing, at Butternut - which was very successful. The adults had a go too. We stayed for 4 nights, in this cute blue house on a bend of the bucolic Housatonic River, in the village by the same name.

We also enjoyed some short trips to the historic New England towns of Great Barrington, and Stockbridge for dinner at the famous Red Lion Inn. There was a little snow on Monday night then fine but very cold (like minus 6C, feels like minus 12 C) but nice and warm indoors. Although there wasn't a lot of snow on the ground, all in all it was great fun.

#610. Finally - some snow!

For the first time this winter, it started snowing yesterday afternoon - lightly but steadily, from about 2 pm to 6 pm. And it was 3 degrees, so there was only about 1cm of accumulation. But it was enough to create the 'winter wonderland' the Hacks came for.

Significant snow is forecast for next weekend at this stage.

#609. The Hacks are back in town

#608. Global warming

from today's New York Times. It's foggy and rainy today and 14 deg C, and still no snow in NYC. More typical temperatures for January are predicted starting tomorrow and a longer-range forecast of some snow for the Hacks next weekend.

#607. Torino and towns of the Langhe

As promised in a previous post (#601, "Hi from 'Stra'") here are some more pics from our trip to NW Italy last month - first the villages around "Stra" like Novello, Barolo and La Morra, then further afield in the Langhe district (Grinzane Cavour, Cherasco, Alba), and beyond (Saluzzo, Torino). Apologies for the poor quality of some of the pictures [a certain young member of the touring party spilt olive oil over our phone] Capo d'anno, and Tanti Auguri for 2016!!! BAROLO (TOWN, AND WINE)

NOVELLO

LA MORRA

ON THE ROAD

GRINZANE CAVOUR (yes, that Cavour)

CHERASCO

ALBA - SATURDAY MORNING MARKETS

SALUZZO

TORINO (a.k.a. TURIN)

MUSEO DI RISORGIMENTO (ITALIAN REVOLUTION, 1860'S). That's Garibaldi in the painting, in the red shirt (he hailed from these parts). Looks like landing in Napoli.

BELOW: CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, TURIN. The shroud is kept here, but inside a large steel box. The video shown on screens in the side aisles is pretty convincing.