1971 Victoria White Christmas

Yes, Virginia, it sometimes snows in Victoria. This is our back yard after the surprise Christmas morning snowstorm of 1971. Victoria rarely gets a white Christmas; the chance of one happening is only about 11%. There wasn't another one for 20 years. The last one was in 2008 when the entire country had a white Christmas. (And technically, the Blizzard of '96, one of the biggest snowfalls in Canadian history, began on Boxing Day, and so doesn't count as a white Christmas.) The bridge in the photo (Admirals Road over Colquitz Creek) was replaced a number of years ago.

Tree in the Snow

Here's a lovely snowscape shot that my dad took somewhere along the Ottawa River in 1965.

Snowscape

I have little information other than the obvious that it's a twig in the snow, other than it was taken in 1969. Is this twig the last holdout against a snowy winter onslaught? Or the first sign of an approaching spring thaw?