I am not an expert on Winter. In fact, compared to people from New England, or Moscow, or Tierra del Fuego, I am a rank amateur. My encounters with Winter have been mostly half-hearted and fleeting. True, I spent 8 of them in Washington, DC, but as winters go, they hardly count (except of course for the year to Potomac River froze). Even then, when faced with Winter, I brushed aside its acquaintence and rudely avoided it as much as possible.
When I was young and foolish (perhaps more foolish), I remember driving into North Florida because I heard it had snowed and I wanted to see it–I didn't–it had melted before I could get there.
That being said, I do have a good deal of experience with winter-time months in which winter never deigns to appear. Living in Florida for so many year, I had become accustomed to having Summer and not-Winter.
It is now officially Winter in Montevideo. What that means has yet to be enitrely revealed to me. Thus far it seems to mean 3-5 days of clouds and drizzle and then a like number of days with bright sunshine. Today it is bright and will be in the 70s Fahrenheit and the 20s Celsius,
They call these days the Veranillos del San Juan — the little summers of Saint John, probably because the birthday of St. John the Baptizer is in the last part of June.
There have been relatively cold days. One Sunday, on the drive to Church I saw thermometers that read 4C (39F) on them. But that was a one day affair. We have also had a few other mornings when the thermometer was in single digits Celsius (less than 50F), but not many.
It is really humorous to watch the Uruguayos on these colder days–they dress up like Eskimos and generally act as if the world was coming to an end. But thus far, there have only been a few of these cold days.
I am told that the “little summers” do not extend into August, when we will instead be smitten with a two week long torrent of wind and rain known of la Tormenta de la Santa Rosa–Saint Rose's storm.
Then we will have Spring.
Thus far at least, no frosty mornin's to sing about, no snowmen to build, no windows to de-ice, no salted roads…
On second thought, I really don't care if I ever get to know Winter…not-Winter, thank you kindly, will do just fine…
