2936 Isn't it cold?

Totally agree...this is our first winter and not something we had expected. We are in Puglia and had wrongly assumed being this far south , the winters would be very short. We did expect it to be cold for a couple of months but not this long. It first turned cold here at the end of October !!!!! and is absolutely freezing at the moment....and soooooooo wet !!!
We have friends arriving tonight and I honestly think they thought they would be on the beach , so I've had to put them right on that one and tell them to bring a warm coat !!!!
What worries me is that most of the locals say this winter is not as bad as last year !!!!!!!
All in all , the weather has been a disappointment , even in June we had a whole week of a really cold wind which really shocked us !!!!!!
No wonder nothing on the coast is open except in July and August !!!!!!!!!!!

Still we love it here and wouldn't think of going back to England...just a bit disappointed !!!!

.. there have been some cold spells but not that many...today weve got bright sun and itss warm... almost the whole of feb was warm...with just a couple of half days of rain...

you can tell spring is here because the broad beans are well up now, the locals are planting potatoes ... and most of all the blossom... weve got peach blossom out in the garden next door...the hawthorn is showing along the hedgerows and tons of cherry blossoms... forsythia been out a week....

so i wouldnt worry too much ... i wouldnt try going to the beach this week, but last week we were out with friens at a fish restaurant near tortoretto and the temp was pretty well up to 65-70

its really hard to generalise here... like 30 km from us on the gran sasso they are still driving around with snow frozen to the roof... and i hear people staying near etna have seen a couple of meteres of snow... but really its quite springish here...

[url]http://www.meteofrance.com/FR/climat/clim_italie.jsp#[/url]

quite a useful little site - that tells you average weather conditions over the year!

I have to admit I'm still wearing my t shirt with the short sleeves and, being a Geordie, thats an indication of the cold here too... (errm, I'm wearing 2 fleeces over it, but, tell no one, OK ;-) )

My wife is outside painting the chestnut beams with linseed oil. When I last put my head out of the door, she was still alive, so it can't be that cold. ;-)

[QUOTE=Marc]My wife is outside painting the chestnut beams with linseed oil. When I last put my head out of the door, she was still alive, so it can't be that cold. ;-)[/QUOTE]
Is she still popping in from time to time to make your coffee and check there's nothing you need ???, has she prepared your lunch, and stoked the boiler, cut the wood for tonight and.......:D

[QUOTE=Violetta]Is it cold where you are? I'm not one of those Brits who thinks of Italy as the perpetual "place in the sun" (we've done enough winters here to know that it can be really dire from November/February). But as late as mid-March? Here in southern Tuscany I had what can only be described as a gale blowing through my kitchen last Saturday night (OK, it's badly insulated) and it was So Cold. It's not just me being a whingeing Brit, Italian friends are moaning like mad too. Apart from the longer days, there's barely any sign of spring in our garden. Is it the same elsewhere? I have mad friends who've booked a house with a pool outside Siena for Easter week. I think all they're going to be doing is skating on it if it stays like this! Brrrrr.[/QUOTE]

Here in Northern Tuscany we have had the most beautiful two days ... admittedly preceded by some pretty awful weather but I like contrasts ... California or Canadian tundra and would drive me stir crazy.:)

[QUOTE=GlenB][url]http://www.meteofrance.com/FR/climat/clim_italie.jsp#[/url]

quite a useful little site - that tells you average weather conditions over the year![/QUOTE]

What a great website pity they don't have as many Italian dots as French ones. It is difficult to find out this kind of information for Italian mountains - we lived in the pre-Dolomites for a few years and the number of days with clear blue skies was very high indeed but I am pretty sure the Apennine and Apuane are wetter and cloudier but I can't get hold of hard data.

Phew... and I thought you'd all be lying by the poolside at this time of year... :D :D ... just when we have our (hopefully) last onslaught of snow... pretty late too... was pottering about outside this time last year!! Argh!!

[QUOTE=Iona]Phew... and I thought you'd all be lying by the poolside at this time of year... :D :D ... just when we have our (hopefully) last onslaught of snow... pretty late too... was pottering about outside this time last year!! Argh!![/QUOTE]

We have snow forecast for St. Patrick's Day (this Friday). Should make a pleasant change from the usual rain that falls on that day.

It never snows in Ireland - does it?

[QUOTE=sdoj]It never snows in Ireland - does it?[/QUOTE]

Oh yes it does. Not as much as the UK would get but there are years when it is very heavy. 2001 I recall well as the weekend (first in March) that I was due to fly over to Dublin (when moving over from the UK) all the airports were closed due to blizzards and otherwise heavy snowfall.

[QUOTE=Sano]Oh yes it does. Not as much as the UK would get but there are years when it is very heavy. 2001 I recall well as the weekend (first in March) that I was due to fly over to Dublin (when moving over from the UK) all the airports were closed due to blizzards and otherwise heavy snowfall.[/QUOTE]

Sano, I remember that year from Aberdeen... real blizzards, masses of snow ... fantastic!!! Had to dig a path down a 20 mtr drive to get to the main road...The cross-country way to work was quite an adventure too, following the snowplow... ;)

Glad my leccy didn't go off though... brrr

So far, we only had 3 individual days of snow in Edinburgh, 1 after Xmas, 1 on 3rd March & 1 last Sunday! :( :(

Iona your post reminds me what I always tell Italians when they enquire if there is skiing in England (by which they mean skiing in UK): when you can get to the slopes there is no snow and when there is snow you can't get to the slopes. :D

[QUOTE=sdoj]What a great website pity they don't have as many Italian dots as French ones. It is difficult to find out this kind of information for Italian mountains - we lived in the pre-Dolomites for a few years and the number of days with clear blue skies was very high indeed but I am pretty sure the Apennine and Apuane are wetter and cloudier but I can't get hold of hard data.[/QUOTE]

Sdoj - whereabouts in the pre-Dolomites did you live? How did you like the area?

Curious as this area isn't often up for discussion... :)

[QUOTE=Iona]Sdoj - whereabouts in the pre-Dolomites did you live? How did you like the area?

Curious as this area isn't often up for discussion... :)[/QUOTE]

Folgaria (small ski resort) - mainly apartments - few hotels nearest cities Trento and Vicenza. As said, weather was fantastic and walking and cycling were heavenly but living in the mountains proved too difficult logistically and so we moved down to the valleys - as people have been doing in Italy for eons.
As a place to retire it couldn't be bettered - the town is pedestrian only and since it is on an alto piano one doesn't have to exert oneself at all although the altitude (1100 metres) takes several days to get used to.
The area is interesting because of its Austrian connections and as you probably know Bozen (Bolzano) and Trent (Trento) are bilingual cities.
The Ötzi / Oetzi musem in Bolzano is one of the most interesting small museums I have ever visited.

The people are much more reserved than in Tuscany (where we live now) and it took us years to get to know people well but when we anounced that we were leaving they seemed genuinely bereft and now when we visit they are far more gregarious than before. I could imagine the situation being more or less the reverse here. Funny old world.:confused:

Thanks alot, sdoj! Very interesting... I'd like to see more regions introduced and discussed - and perhaps this is a start??

Bet you had lots of proper snow??

[LEFT]My wife has been at our house in Western Liguria since 4th March and has only had one day of cloudy weather. The rest has been sunny and it has got warmer each day - from 13/14C on the first day to 21C yesterday. I'm in Surrey where we've struggled to get over 5C in the last week - I know where I'd prefer to be!:( [/LEFT]

[QUOTE=brendangfc][LEFT]My wife has been at our house in Western Liguria since 4th March and has only had one day of cloudy weather. The rest has been sunny and it has got warmer each day - from 13/14C on the first day to 21C yesterday. I'm in Surrey where we've struggled to get over 5C in the last week - I know where I'd prefer to be!:( [/LEFT][/QUOTE]

Jig's a very lucky gal!!! :)

we're back to ostunia, on thurs, i had better go and unpack my cases and fill them with fleeces!!!

[QUOTE=les and phil]we're back to ostunia, on thurs, i had better go and unpack my cases and fill them with fleeces!!![/QUOTE]

Layers is the answer. It is the wind here in Lazio that has been bitterly cold, however the sun feels very warm if you can find a sheltered spot!
Spring seems a little later than normal but we have not had snow this year(only on the surrounding hills) In 2004 by mid March it was around 30C for a few days..............

last night the dogs went mad in the garden... if you were our neighbours you might say that has happened before... but this time it sounded serious ... whats that got to do with spring... i regard some of the native species here as having a much better forcasting ability than those that regard it as a proffesion ... so i am pleased to announce that good weather is definitely here to stay ... the hedgehog that got the dogs excited is proof... they know best and once awake it means we can all be guaranteed that spring and warm weather is officially here... by the way the hedhog is fine...its just there habit of not moving when discovered infuriates the dogs ... they are much happier when a neighbours cat gets in and they can have a good chase....

sad to say this morning on the way to teramo noticed a couple of hedgehogs whose forcasting days are over... but the birds were happy

Not for long John.. the cats will come along and get the birds.. questa e' la vita! :D

:) :)

Not so sure about that Aliena - my poor cat kept getting de-furred by some nasty magpies last summer - at one point his poor tail looked like a chipolata. Think I'll have to take him to one of these Pet Psychiatrists ;)

Oh don't worry Karen.. you should have let the Magpies finish the job and you would have ended up with one of those really expensive hairless cats! :D

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:) :)