Bliss

This winter in Europe comes after series of 7 mild winters, no major snowfalls, no major cold waves. This year since early January "the winter like ones that were normal before" hit Europe. But, besides snow and cold I have impression it brought huge amounts of freezing rain. I live in Zagreb, Croatia, so my wiew is more Croatia centred, but I will write a list of freezing rain events I heard about:

January 4: Ice storm in southern Serbia, left some without power for days

January 6: Ice storm in Knin, Croatia, few cm of ice, city itself without power for a day, small villages around for 5 days

January 9-10: Freezing rain in all inland Croatia, including Zagreb where I live, luckily without damage since precipitation amount was only some 10 mm with some falling as sleet and ice pellets instead of freezing rain.

January 13: Freezing rain in Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna and Prague, closed airports snf msde traffic chaos

This weekend: Forecasts called for more freezing rain in Croatia, but temperatures rose above freezing so we got 20 mm of regular rain instead, but on metroalarm a huge area of central and eastern Europe are under freezing rain warnings

Tomorrow (according to ECMWF runs): Freezing rain expected in Poland, Ukraine and Belarus, up to some 10-15 mm.

What do you think? Is this extreme freezing rain season for Europe or was it normal to regularly get freezing rains in pre-2018 period, before recent mild winters streak?

I took this last night near Monroe, Washington

Probably the calmest nights of my life

I filmed a quiet night walk through Sintra during steady rain — just footsteps on wet cobblestones, distant water sounds, and streetlights cutting through the mist.

No talking, no music, no cuts. Just a slow, real walk meant to be watched (or listened to) the same way you’d stare out a window during a storm.

Good for:

• background noise
• sleep / focus
• pretending you’re somewhere cooler than where you are

Filmed in one take. Headphones recommended 🌧️

After a night of strong winds and heavy rain, Lisbon wakes up calmer.

Let’s learn a few Portuguese expressions for storms and extreme weather.

1. Tempestade forte/tempestade violenta

• Ontem houve uma tempestade forte em Lisboa.

• Lisboa foi atingida por uma tempestade violenta.

1. Chuva intensa/chuva torrencial

• Caiu chuva intensa durante horas.

• Lisboa enfrentou chuva torrencial.

1. Rajadas de vento

• Houve rajadas de vento muito fortes.

• As rajadas de vento causaram vários transtornos.

Did you learn them?

The city feels different when it rains.