Some whoosh and shake in Dalmatia

Yesterday evening it again attacked us. It came behind the mountains, strengthened with the support of the freezing forces of the north. While diving into the pass between mountains it was pressed like a diamond under pressure and its power got more scary. From the pass it hit us, it was everywhere and it surely showed its mighty power. Bura, that gloomy northern wind.

The local meteorological center had already issued a formal red warning to the Dalmatian area in good time, luckily bura is not coming as suprise. The motorway was completely closed from traffic, often there is only a ban on large vehicles such as trucks and vans, but now all. There are breaks in the ferry service to the close by islands at sea and boats are urged to stay in ports. Here, the coast was warned of damages on buildings and other structures. When the wind blows up to 140km/h (that's about 39m/s) you surely should hold on to your hat.

When the night fell on us, it finally hit our village. Kitchen hood was buzzing and clattering even though it wasn´t turned on. The gusts bumbed into the walls of the house and howled around corners, on the balcony citrus and laurel trees were blowed from the dust and spider's quite effectively. The electricity broke down a couple of times darkening the whole village and rain was hitting the windows with the power of the wind. I went to bed being happy I had strong concrete walls around me instead of that straw house that sheltered three little piglets in the children story in witch the wolf blowed the house away.

In the middle of the night I woke up to the sound of my wardrobe doors clattering. At first I wondered how the wind could catch them until I realized the bed was shaking. Mother Nature sure was putting on a show and added an earthquake to this spectacle. Fortunately, it quickly faded away. As I learned in the morning the center was located little over twenty kilometers from here and it was  3.6 magnitude on the Richter scale.

The morning was sunny and calm, new day started out as usual. Even confusingly usual, where were the damages of the storm? Here the plants have bura resistance in their genes, they do bend but do not break under these winds. The tile roofs are not torn to the wind, they are firmly attached to their base. Except some occasional light garbage containers or other small stuff, everything is where it should be. In January last year, bura was windmilling deserted Christmas trees as tumbleweed at the desert, nothing like that this time.

The three buras of March are kind of concept in here. Actually, they are quite expected cause after the storms warm days are coming and it´s time to head towards summer. There is already a lot of buds in the lemon tree waiting for the nice sunny days so they can open.

Winter came to Dalmatia but the Finn is disappointed

Attached picture will describe this week quite widely on European scale. However, it was taken a month ago, not in Croatia, but in Sotkamo, Finland. There were 60 cm of snow and about -15 degrees. Normal day during winter time. We walked through forest to the hut, grilled sausages on open fire and drank some hot rum from a thermos bottle. Normal winter day activity.

Now, during this week we have experienced, heard and seen something not so normal. On the other side of the Adriatic Sea, Italy has measured -40 degrees, in Rome people have been skiing on the grassy slopes of the parks, in Barcelona the F1 cars remained in the garage when the snow covered the track. In England ski resorts had to close due to excessive snow. Schools have been closed across Europe and the roads have turned to one huge bumber car track. Even in Finland instructions were given to survive in a freezing atmosphere although the degrees that are now experienced are quite normal especially in the north. Right now it is reported that Geneva airport has been closed due to snowfall. At the same time in the Arctic region there is a heatwave and the snow melts away. What a bizarre moment in time.

Also here we have been experiencing quite crispy days. The Siberian breeze finally reached Dalmatia after hitting the northern inland with up to a couple of meters of snow. Yes, in Croatia. Here on the coastline and on the islands we just got a thin white cover, somewhere a bit more than other places. It's been six years since the last time winter surprised the Dalmatians, therefore this was not exactly the normal situation. And due to that, it sure was quite a hassle around it. Already throughout the previous week the upcoming winter hazard was among the top news. The ten point survival list was published including important notes like beware of walking under snowy trees and make sure you have enough food and drink at least for elderly and children. It was advised not to go anywhere by car and better not to go by foot either unless you have proper shoes. As a Finn who just came back from very wintry Finland, all this fuss made me smile a little. 

On the other hand, I almost expected such a good armageddon just to see how it would go. But no luck in that. Here in our village in Podstrana it can not be said that the land even became white. We didn't get bura wind that was expected or at least it did not hit Podstrana this time. It has now been a few minus degrees for three nights, but that's it. The schools were open normally and the cars have been sliding only with sand that was sprinkled on the roads as precaution. Which in itself is quite funny. I did take out my winter jacket and beanie to make sure I stayed warm when going out during these few chilly days. Last winter in Murter I felt much colder when thermometer showed minus ten days nonstop and bura came down hard. There was no snow back then but it was really cold. Compared to that these last days have been just a little frosty bite.

Today is still a chilly day. It even snowed little bit earlier but it melted away and left a ground wet. However, this is at least here the last day of winter. Tomorrow I do not need to wear winter jacket anymore but I still hold on to my woolen stockings for now.

Waiting for the snow and breaking the cold chain while doing that

The sun shines from the blue sky and it still has a bit of heating power left but long gone are the hot days of summer and soft warm nights. Autumn is a reality and winter is coming too, forecast just said we might even see snow here in Split next week. That would be a humorous happening for sure. And rare, the previous case of snow was several years ago, but it is still often mentioned and the pictures of those wonders of snow are been showed from the phones to anyone more or less interested. 

While the weather is getting chilly it is once again time to dig long sleeves and trousers out of the cupboards. And thick woolen stocks. Cause together with this start of cooler season floors are starting to feel particularly cold under your feet. Our apartment has largely tile floors and they already start to cool off quite badly. The locals use the shoes also inside, but I do not find myself local enough to do that. In our home the shoes are left in the hallway when entering inside just like in any other Finnish home. However, I also found some kind of indoor slippers quite comfortable cause even the thick socks don't really have what it takes to break the cold chain from the floor to the bottom of your feet. Last winter, our apartment in Murter had wooden floors which were slightly warmer but in the coldest days of winter there was a great need for slippers in there too. Now that season has already started here.

Getting and staying warm is, however, a topical issue just now. In this apartment, the only solid heating system is those two air-to-air heat pumps: one downstairs in the master bedroom and the other one upstairs. For example, neither of the bathrooms has any heat source. And when talking about the whole house there are no isolation of any kind which is very typical for houses here. So it is getting rather chilly when night temperatures drop to less than 10 degrees and during daylight it does not get too much over that 10 degrees especially when the bura wind is howling around the corners. When I returned from a long weekend trip on Monday evening, the indoor thermometer in upstairs had 18.5 degrees in its screen and the downstairs was clearly even cooler. So it was time to start up the machines to blow some warm air. That blowing is, however, not a good thing as the air moves a little too much and becomes unpleasant. For the same reason, I didn´t use the air con so much during summer, mostly only so much that Tiuku was more comfortable. Well ok, when the thermometer screamed continuously over forty degrees the cool air did feel good to myself too.

Yesterday we went on to get a relief from the hardware store: a couple of radiators and one small fan to the downstairs bathroom. In the bathroom the fan is convenient not only for heating the room, but most importantly it makes it easier to ventilate the moisture out of the window after showering. The only ventilation system in this house are the windows and it is especially challenging to extract the dampness out. With quick cross-draught it´s easy to get the air inside freshened but after two warm showers there is so much moisture in the bathroom that it does not go out of the small window so quickly. When you have a fan blowing warm air from the floor level, it will help a lot as we already figured out last winter when struggling with this same matter. Our landlord himself suggested this shopping trip to buy heaters, I will just deduct the costs from the next rent. They have some old heaters, but those are consuming so much electricity that getting new ones is more reasonable. 

And how wonderful it was to wake up in the nicely warm bedroom this morning and then come to upstairs to cook the breakfast without the draft. Slippers are still needed, but that´s ok.