Germany had a cold one

 

Germany's climate stinks. It's dark, wet and cold in the winter. And while spring and summer are warmer, the weather remains intermittently soggy. This is probably the reason Germans travel so much. Almost anywhere they go, the weather is likely to be better than back home.

 

But because winter is so miserable, they still get pretty jazzed about springtime. The moment the sun comes out and the flower bulbs start popping, they emerge pale-faced from their dank dwellings to stroll hand-in-hand with loved ones, eating ice cream and soaking up desperately needed Vitamin D on park benches. They even start smiling.

Not this year, though. No, this year, Germany has not only been treated to the darkest winter on record, sending wretched residents to the brink of despair. To top it off, the official beginning of spring has also been marked with record snowfall -- though of course not always where winter sports enthusiasts could make any use of it.

While it has been raining at lower altitudes down south near the Alps, the flatlands in the northeast have been getting dumped on. Some 27 centimeters (11 inches) of snow, a record for the month of March, fell in the northern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on Wednesday, which marked the calendric start of spring. Just off the Baltic Sea coast on the island of Rügen, 35 centimeters of snow reportedly fell, making it impossible for buses to bring children to school. Unfortunately for grown-ups, there are no snow days in real life.

 

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/winter-weather-plagues-germany-as-spring-begins-a-890166.html#spRedirectedFrom=www&referrrer=