Snowfall in Autumn

It's not winter yet, but the first snowfall has come. Some trees, like the maples, poplars and birches  haven't let go of their yellow leaves yet, especially the maples which are still thick with yellow and orange leaves.

lombardy poplars

 But most of the birches are already bare while the mountain ash or rowan trees have only their thick bunches of  red berries left.

berry-laden rowan trees

I was in our language school this morning (October 14) when the snowflakes started to fall. It was about 9:30 a.m., just in time for our 30-minute break. I had been watching the snowfall through the window before our first period was over. The moment I was out of the classroom, I rushed out of the building to feel the snowflakes and take pictures and videos of this unusual event of this year. (Unusual in the sense that it's too early) Many students from different countries also took out their compact cameras and cellphones to shoot the snow. The expressions of wonder and excitement on their faces revealed that it was their first time to see the snow.

Of course, I was elated! I have been here one winter and have tremendously enjoyed that first winter in my life. Now that the snow came again, I felt a renewed excitement over my second experience. I watched with new fascination the falling of the snow. The light snowflakes that started to fall gradually came to be thicker as big clusters of snowflakes came down. 

three-parts video, from light to heavy snowfall

It was also amazing to watch a thick cloud of waxwing birds circling overhead, as if they were also enjoying a snow bath. They flew together in the same direction, circling and then perching on tree tops. After some minutes, they would take off again, flew around, then alighted back to the trees. They kept doing this course throughout the morning while the snowfall lasted.

a flock of waxwing birds

waxwing birds perching on treetops

After my classes, the whole ground was blanketed with thick snow. So were the green grass in our backyard. The sun started to peer out late in the afternoon, though it failed to melt all the snows. In the evening, the temperature dropped to 2 degrees  C, thus preserving the snows that have fallen.

in our backyard

It's definitely a day worth-remembering. A day when the first snowfall  came not in winter, but in autumn. A foregleam of the winter season that has been predicted to come early this year.