RECENT ENTRIES |
- • Flooding in Britain - 02.14
- • Sochi 2014 Olympics: Reaching the podium - 02.13
- • The 2014 Westminster Dog Show - 02.10
- • 2014 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony in Soch - 02.07

Translate into:
(Hint: Use 'j' and 'k' keys to move up and down)
December 23, 2009 |
Snowy scenes
Last Monday was December 21st - the Winter Solstice, or the shortest day of the year (in the Northern Hemisphere). The 21st would also have also been the first day of Nivôse, the first winter month of the long-abandoned French Republican Calendar, named after the Latin word nivosus, which, appropriately means "snow or snowy". Collected here are a handful of recent photographs of these snowy days for those of us in the north. [Editor's note, the next Big Picture will be on Monday, 12/28 - For those who celebrate, Merry Christmas! For everyone else, enjoy the weekend.] (42 photos total)

Children play with snow in the middle of the traffic roundabout at Columbus Circle in New York City on December 20, 2009. Heavy snowfall blanketed the East Coast on Saturday, disrupting public transport and air travel, and hampering holiday shoppers on the last weekend before Christmas. (REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly)

Firefighters rescue a German Shepherd after it fell through thin ice at Prairie Creek Reservoir on Monday Dec. 21, 2009 in Muncie, Ind. . According to rescue workers, the dog was in the water for over one hour. Firefighters were able to break the ice and the dog swam to shore. (AP Photo/ The Star Press, Chris Bergin) #

The San Gabriel mountain range is capped with snow behind the skyline of downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday, Dec 8, 2009. Monday's dawn-to-dusk rainfall had raised fears in Southern California foothill communities that flooding and mud flows could surge out of vast areas burned bare by wildfires, but the cold storm left a dusting of snow across the mountains north and east of Los Angeles instead of unleashing downpours. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) #

High winds whip snow off the western peaks of Mount Hood, Sunday, Dec. 13, 2009, as seen from Government Camp, Oregon, where rescuers were waiting to begin their search for two missing climbers. The rescue mission was later suspended, the climbers assumed to have died on the mountain. (AP Photo/Don Ryan) #
More links and information
Stranded Fliers and Stalled Commuters as New York Digs Itself Out of Storm - NYTimes.com, 12/21
Harbin Ice-and-Snow World Festival kicks off on January 5, 2010 - Global Times, 12/21