This morning we woke up to a bucket load of snow.

We had been issued weather warnings throughout this week about Storm Goretti, but I haven’t really thought much about it. In the UK, our weather is rarely extreme (although we have seen some changes over the last 15 years) and there have been plenty of occasions where a warning has been issued and everyone has panicked, only for very little to come of it. A lot of build up, a lot of advice about staying indoors and then… not much. 

The reality is that the UK is not particularly well-equipped to deal with extremes. Even just a few inches of snow is often enough to bring everything to a halt. Roads become dangerous, public transport slows or stops altogether and workplaces start making decisions to close very quickly. It isn’t so much that the weather is dramatic, but that our infrastructure simply isn’t built for it.

However, yesterday evening it started to snow quite heavily and The Bloke received a message to say that his place of work would be closed today, which was the first moment that felt like the warnings might actually be worth paying attention to. Sure enough, the snowfall this morning had reached a point where it was high enough to reach our patio doors. 

This level of snow is extremely rare for us, which is probably why it feels like a big enough event that I felt the need to write about it (although I can practically hear my Canadian friends laughing as I do). I remember back in April 2011 we had extreme snowfall that led to multiple school closure days. On one occasion, we turned up in the middle of a snowstorm to find Ofsted standing outside the school gates, only for everyone to be sent home shortly afterwards (much to our collective delight). Then there was February – March 2018, when the Beast from the East arrived and caused chaos for weeks, disrupting travel, closing schools and reminding us just how unprepared we are when the weather decides to do something out of character. And then in 2023 we had about two days where it snowed so heavily that I had massive issues with travelling up to my Mum, who was due to have an operation.

I still find something rather comforting about a snow day, even in adulthood, but it is also a moment to feel grateful for how lucky The Bloke and I are. We are warm, safe, have food in the cupboard and are able to work from home, which is not something everyone can take for granted. Snow days can feel novel or even enjoyable for many, but they also serve as a reminder of those who have been deeply affected by the storm and are without power and necessities, those who are more vulnerable and who need extra help, and, as always, the incredible people working in our emergency services who don’t get the option to slow down and whose day will undoubtedly be made much more challenging.

For us, today will be a normal working day, just with lots of snow outside and The Bloke sitting next to me with his laptop. There is nothing especially exciting about that, but it feels quietly pleasant all the same.