Zuma the Dog and the Blustery Day

Today we cling on the our maintain with all our might as we experience gusts of up to 200 k/ph, I fear that we will end up in Kansas if this continues for much longer. Yesterday’s walkies through the forest was quiet, peaceful, sunny with a hint of spring in the air. The calm before the storm perhaps?

As I watch the trampoline fly across the garden for the umpteenth time, not only am I happy to not go for walkies today, but I can’t help noticing how different the weather has been this season compared to other years. It’s my third winter in Switzerland now, I don’t have many to compare, though the first two winters here were your stereotypical Swiss winters. Exciting, cold, snowy, long and very beautiful. And many days where we’ve had to dig ourselves out (my favourite). Snow almost a meter high, definitely way over my head. We were told by our neighbours, that snow like this on our little mountain was unusual, that it snowed, but not to a point where we couldn’t drive the car or even get out of the house. 

Winter 2019

The first snow arrived at the end of October and continued on and off until May. We had two winters like this and believed this was how winter was here and our neighbours were wrong. As the summer of 2019 disappeared into autumn, I got excited about the coming winter. The forest doesn’t change that much due to it being mostly made up of pine trees, but those that do, their leaves start to change stunning colours, crisp up and fall. October came and I knew it wouldn’t be long before the fun stuff came. I waited by the window each day, staring out in anticipation, shaking with excitement, pining, hoping. I waited for the powder to fall. November, December, still nothing. January brought hope with a day of dumpy white fluff, but it didn’t last. Rain followed and it all but disappeared. Was this the usual Swiss winter neighbours told us about?

I watch the mountain opposite. At the top it’s the same usual snow filled peaks, but further down the line ends abruptly giving way to green fields and forest. I hear the neighbours say, “No snow at all is very unusual.”

Winter 2020

So, as I help Mummy bring the garden furniture into my bedroom to stop it from blowing away, listening to her telling me to get inside (I believe she thinks I might blow away), this made me ask the question. Is this evidence that Switzerland is also being affected by climate change?

What do you think?

Much Love

Zuma

P.S. I turned 13! National Zuma the Dog Day was 24th January. Here's my birthday cake. :-)  #NationalZumaTheDogDay

XX