The three months I was in Geneva, I was hoping for snow, although we were able to go to it in St. Moritz. Before we left, the Sahara wind blew in covering everything. I'm sure if it were gathered up in one pile it would make a respectable beach.
We come to the south of France and it snows in Switzerland.
I find bad weather (in limited doses) far more interesting than good weather.
April 1 (Fool's Day) the Tramontane made it's appearance taking temperatures down so low I felt more like I was in Boston in January between blizzards. A friend said the with the wind chill factor it was like -39° although they didn't specify Fahrenheit or Centigrade. It doesn't matter what the thermometer read. It was and is BLOODY COLD.
The Tramontane was blowing so hard, if I'd not held on to anything I could grab, I could have been blown off my feet. One Tramontane, when I was undergoing chemo six years ago, blew my wig off my head and up the street. Kids watched with their mouths open. We ran after it to retrieve it.
The Tramontane comes from the north on the Mediterranean and is dry and cold and picks up force into Languedoc, Roussillon and Catalona. As the worse blizzards in Boston tend to go out to sea, pick up water and come back to add snow on the snow.
Tramontanes are caused by a pressure difference between high pressure cold air systems over the Atlantic with a low pressure system from the Med. The locals say it usually lasts three, six or nine days.
On day two we visited a friend with a view of the Med. The white caps went as far as we could see and were higher and more constant than ever I'd seen them.
Supposedly the winds can drive one mad.
Today would have been the fourth day. The wind was closer to normal. People were sitting in sidewalk cafés. No one of my acquaintances went mad.
Maybe now the weather will act like its April.
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