A no snow

While snow adorns pavements and trees, for which in some cases still have leaves on, in London and the south-east of England, and with snow forecast for my second home in Chicago later today I came to work this morning dressed in shorts.

It is December 1st tomorrow and the weather remains in the 70’s (22c) in Bermuda. Despite it’s latitude and longitude and it’s location over a 1,000 miles north of the Bahamas, the island is entirely frost-free with snow only ever seen on Christmas cards. The reason for this is the Gulf Stream that heats the waters around this middle of the Atlantic dormant volcano, home to 65,000 people.

Winter here is mild as the temperature rarely drops below 55 degrees (13c) and the only annoyance is the occasional thunderstorm and subsequent sideways downpour. But most aggravating of all is the three months of damp weather (Jan, Feb and March) caused by the humidity. Personally I would rather it snow as the damp permeates through Bermuda’s old and substantial concrete houses which cost a fortune to heat and mold and mildrew is a constant evil.

The climate is known as sub-tropical, and in the summer from May to October, the weather can be uncomfortably hot with especially high humidity, however the temperatures rarely get higher than 85°F (29c), unlike the wide fluctuations seen in Chicago for instance.

I miss the snow, I really do. There was nothing better than seeing it fall onto Chicago’s busy thoroughfare’s and side streets. But then again Chicago did snow well. London appears to be getting better at it (is it?), as for Bermuda, well even climate change won’t bring the white fluffy stuff here.