Snow in Sicily? In March??

Imagine my surprise when it began to snow on my way home from work yesterday. The flurries quickly became almost a blizzard, and this was happening down at sea level, not just up on the volcano. I was a little concerned about getting home, but it melted on the road so there was no problem. By the time I got home, it was nearly stopped and nothing had accumulated but a dusting on the trees. The poor palms, aloes, lemon tree, mimosa, and cacti looked cold.

In the evening, I turned on an outdoor light to let the cats in. Why was it so bright out there? Omigosh--there was an inch or two of snow covering everything!

This morning, it appeared that MORE snow had appeared overnight . . . in fact, it was still flurrying. I thought nothing of it, though. I scraped about 3 inches off my windows and left home. I had brand-new Michelins to the tune of 700 Euros, so it shouldn't be a problem. However, there was not a single other set of tire tracks on the street. It turned out that there was ice under the snow, and my ABS chattered all the way down the hill to the main part of town. There, I expected things to be normal, as had been my previous experience. But no! Land Rovers and a huge snowplow (now, where did they get THAT?) were the only things out. I went up one hill and started down another to leave town when a city bus started skidding sideways down the hill in front of me (see photo at right). NOT a good sign. I crept, ABS chattering, to a corner and turned back into town. When I reached main street, I could see nothing was moving, so I turned to go home and wait for the melting. Unfortunately, a large truck had stopped and was skidding backwards, so I quickly ducked into a parking place, parked the car, and walked all the way home.

Now I'm waiting a few hours before I try again to go down the mountain. The school secretary said the entire volcano is covered in snow, right down to the valley. Strange at any time, but in March? Unheard of!