The weather’s been really odd in Romania this past week or so. After meteorologists announced a long, warm autumn, the weather turned unseasonably cold — terribly cold — for October. It snowed up to 10 cm or more some places, and where I live, we had hail the size of small pebbles — in October, mind you! I for one have never seen this kind of strange weather this early in the year, not even when I lived in Vermont (NE US) during my college years. For comparison purposes, the first snowfall I saw in the Washington, DC area last year (in 2008) was on November 22.
I recorded a short video clip of the hailstorm as it fell last week, and also took some photos. Thank goodness the hail was soft, because it would have damaged cars and crops otherwise.
In March, we crossed the Carpathian Mountains in the county of Harghita, Romania, as we drove from the city of Bacau to Medias. The route was scenic and there were lots of beautiful places to stop and admire the view. Snow still covered the mountain peaks, and it covered the ground as well at higher altitudes. The roads got pretty bad at times, as is quite often the case in Romania, but they were fairly decent about half the time, which is something — for Romania. At any rate, the places we saw are among the more beautiful in the country.
I recorded a short video clip as we drove through the high peaks of the Harghita Mountains, and stopped in various places to take photographs. The video clip is embedded below. If you’re reading this on my feed and it doesn’t show up, then you can see it in my Video Log set.
The white line you see at the top of the abrupt mountain slope above isn’t a lens aberration. It’s snow. It covers the other side of the mountain. The visible slope is too abrupt and windswept for the snow to keep, so all that’s left is some dry brush and a few trees.
Here we begin to approach the tops of the peaks, and snow is more abundant.
The road hugs the mountain side closely as it curves upward. I love the wooden fence alongside the road, it’s so well suited to the place.
A small mountain cabin holds onto the top. It leans to the left, either because of the settling of its foundation over the time, or because of the strong winds at that altitude.
This is the road where I recorded the video clip you see below.
This mountain brook wound its way through a conifer forest. I think its color is either given by the mud in that region, or by iron ore deposits in the brook bed.
Here’s the video clip, recorded from our car, while driving.
As I drove home from work yesterday, a light snowfall started coming down. I took out my mobile phone and recorded this video clip. I was at the Georgetown Rd exit off I-495, in Bethesda, MD.
If I am to be accurate, I should say it’s not the first snowfall of the season, but the second. It is, however, the first I managed to capture on video. We had another brief snowfall earlier in the week, which, much like this one, melted upon contact and didn’t even wet the ground.
I see that others are getting much more snow [via], but given what they have to go through, I’ll take my little snowfall over this dangerous winter morning any day:
We had a snowstorm this past Thursday in the Washington, DC area. It started snowing around noon, and it continued to snow until about 4 pm. The snowflakes were big and fluffy, and they were coming down in thick waves. In the end, we have about 3 inches of accumulation, which started to melt overnight. By now, there are patches of snow here and there, but if this warmer weather continues, we’ll have nothing.
Here are photos taken during and after the snowstorm in various locations such as McLean (VA), Potomac River (MD side), and North Bethesda (MD).
Here’s how my car looked during the snowstorm.
Visibility was (understandably) greatly reduced during the snowstorm. This tall crane normally dominates the skyline at Tyson’s Corner. Not during the snowstorm…
Always interested in shapes and abstracts, I couldn’t help photographing the tracks left in the snow by vehicles and people.
The fresh snow afforded me a different look at a spot I often visit: Lock 10 on the C&O Canal, which is located on the Clara Barton Parkway, somewhere between Great Falls and Glen Echo (MD).
Finally, photos from my neighborhood. I’m glad I live in such a beautiful place.
Since this post includes photos from my community, let’s call it my Week 3 submission for the 2008 Community Challenge. My other submissions can be found under the “2008 community challenge” tag, right here on my site.
Raoul Pop 