To those from warmer climes, when did you first experience snow? (climate, snowing)

[Trimac20]

To those from climates which don't or very rarely experience snow, when was the first time you truly experienced it? Like saw it, felt it, experiencing snow falling from the sky? Seeing snow-capped mountains from an aeroplane does not count lol.

For me, when I was 16 when we went on a school ski trip to the South Island of NZ. I remember getting excited as we drove up the winding road up the mountain seeing the first flecks of white.

I've seen snow on the ground twice since then, in China on the Great Wall, and from a distance at Cradle Mountain national park. Still, I've yet to see snow falling/it snowing or feel snow on me. I've never had the experience of walking through snow in an urban environment. Many people in Perth have never seen snow. Indeed my mother hasn't and she's over 50, that's not uncommon either.

[SophieLL]

Great question!

I saw snow for the first time in 1990, when i was around 7 years old, in the big snow in MDP. Snow is really uncommon in MDP and i think that was the only real snow mdp had in my lifetime of 30 years. That was a big one and real, with the snow falling from the skies and everything!
My dad had videotaped: it was around 5:30 pm and he open the window and start taping, then ,around 7, he went on and woke me and my sister up telling us "its snowing" and that was.....magical! Snow for us was something that only happened in movies or books! So we spent the entire day throwing ourselves in the snow, making snowmans, running around....it was so wonderful!!!! then my dad went videotaping the whole neighbourhood and everyone was so happy and playing around like little kids (even the adults!).

This day when i see those old pictures of the beach covered in snow it feels so weird and magic....it remind me of that special day in 1990 when it was like being in a movie or a book!

Second time i seen snow was in my high-school ending sky-trip, when its a tradition that classes ending high school go to Bariloche in winter, and of course it snows there! It was awesome too.

Third time it was when i went to Minneapolis one January year after ending high-school. It was also great, and i did those angels in the snow!


The 2007 Buenos Aires snow...i dont count it, cause it wasnt real snow like the other ones. It was a major event for a very warm climate like this one, seeing something resemblance snow, but what i saw (i was in La plata, a city next to BA in where it "snowed" too) was more like what we call "aguanieve" (watersnow) and the layer in the floor was very thin and they werent snowballs and stuff. It was the same here. Not real snow, but of course it was a major event since snowing in BA is almost impossible, so it got exxagerated. But i dont count that as actually "experiencing" snow.

So i only did experienced it 3 times and it was....awesome

I cant wait for the 4th time!



Trimac, here is very common not having seen snow ever too.

[dhdh]

It snowed heavily in Nice when I was a couple years old, but I still remember it.

More interestingly, my missus (from Hong Kong) hadn't seen any snow until she was 21, in Lille

[sanfel]

Originally Posted by SophieLL

I saw snow for the first time in 1990, when i was around 7 years old, in the big snow in MDP.

Wasn't that in 1991?

Originally Posted by SophieLL

This day when i see those old pictures of the beach covered in snow it feels so weird and magic....it remind me of that special day in 1990 when it was like being in a movie or a book!

I agree that it feels like being in a movie or a book. For those accustomed to seeing snow every winter, it may be hard to realize what it means for us to see snow. For us, really, snow belongs to the world of fantasy. So when it suddenly appears, it's just magic.

Originally Posted by SophieLL

The 2007 Buenos Aires snow...i dont count it, cause it wasnt real snow like the other ones. It was a major event for a very warm climate like this one, seeing something resemblance snow, but what i saw (i was in La plata, a city next to BA in where it "snowed" too) was more like what we call "aguanieve" (watersnow) and the layer in the floor was very thin and they werent snowballs and stuff. It was the same here. Not real snow, but of course it was a major event since snowing in BA is almost impossible, so it got exxagerated. But i dont count that as actually "experiencing" snow.

Oh, I know it wasn't the biggest, but come on, I saw on TV people making snowmen here in BA, yes. BTW, I agree that in the city proper snow wasn't so heavy, but from what I saw and heard on the Internet (pics, videos), it was quite big in the suburbs of BA (Castelar, Burzaco, etc.).

Anyway, here's mine. The first time I saw snow was in Bariloche, in 1994, on my graduation trip. But I saw it on the ground, not falling from the sky. It was up on the Cerro Catedral, the ski resort near the city. The two weeks I stayed in Bariloche, it didn't snow, but it had snowed before and it snowed afterwards! So that doesn't count I guess. The real first time was in BA in 2007! But Sophie, you ruined it for me, haha. That wasn't really big. Anyway, the fact of seeing snowflakes falling from the sky in my patio, on my street, outside my house, out my window, was just indescribable. It's true at the beginning it was "aguanieve" (freezing rain? sleet?), but what I saw afterwards was different, and according to the weather service it was snow. Sure, it didn't stick in the neighborhood where I lived at that time, but it was gross.

[Joe90]

When I was about 4 or 5, in a place not far from here, called the Cobb Valley. It must have been cold already, as the lake was partially frozen anyway. 2-3 ft fell in about a day. I obviously can't remember much, but do have faint memories of it.

Plenty of people around here have never been in snow, even though it can be seen from here for most of the year. Even with the big snow last year (1 inch), lots of people missed it because it was gone by about 7.00 am.

[Rozenn]

You guys are lucky. Going by weather reports, I was 21 days old when I first saw snow. I don't remember any of it.

[dunno what to put here]

I don't know when I first saw snow - probably when I was 4 months old.

Growing up as a child I would always press my face against the window when snow was in the forecast - and then I saw the first flake of snow slowly drift down and I would scurry outside.. ah, those were the days.

[ilovemycomputer90]

Originally Posted by dunno what to put here

I don't know when I first saw snow - probably when I was 4 months old.

Heh me too.

My first Christmas was a balmy 65 F. The year before was a frigid -12 F.

[ben86]

Originally Posted by Rozenn

You guys are lucky. Going by weather reports, I was 21 days old when I first saw snow. I don't remember any of it.

Heh, I missed out on the joy of feeling amazement at seeing snow for the first time too because I was born the day after a fairly significant snowstorm for my part of the world (my parents actually had trouble getting to the hospital because of it). Oddly the month before and the month after I was born (February/April 1986) were both the second-coldest of the 20th century in England and no subsequent February/April has got close.

First snow memory (or weather memory in general) I have is the February 1991 snow event which gave 30-40cm, more than the same area has had since.

[Rozenn]

Wow that's something we would like to see more often, 30-40 cm! Last time here was in March 1946, so you Londoners are luckier.
Btw now I understand more your love for cold/snow, you were kinda predisposed.