Happy Sunday! This week, for Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #328, John from Journey with Johnbo reminds us that we are approaching midwinter and that winter will be staying for the next few months.

I don’t like winter. In fact, my dislike for winter has grown substantially in the last few years, especially since I began to feel colder than a normal person would because of my autoimmune problems. In the last few weeks, when I go out on my walks, I had been needing to don on a woolen hat, gloves, and carry an electric hand warmer in my pocket. Meanwhile, my mom would just go out wearing a t-shirt and thin sweater.

However, sometimes, winter offers some great landscape photo opportunities like this sunset up at the Utah state Capitol. I can’t recall why I was there though.

Living at an elevation of 4,500 feet above sea level, things like lakes and ponds freeze in the winter. I think I shot this photo in March and still, the pond was still frozen to the point that the ducks and geese could walk on the surface. It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?

We had a freaky winter 2 years ago in 2022. This photo was taken on December 15, 2022 after a night of snow. The winter of 2022-2023 was like snow-mageddon. People’s roofs collapsed because of the snow, not to mention avalanches in the mountains, people got stranded in the ski resorts because of the feet of snow on the roads. I certainly had my fill of shoveling snow from my driveway during those months.

This photo is from last December. We are currently facing the same situation – dense fog.

Where I live in the intermountain region of the US, the winter is governed by the flow of the Pacific Ocean. It’s been predicted that 2024 winter would be controlled by La Nina, which typically brings above average rain and snow to the north and below average rain and snow to the south. With the intermountain region being where it is – right in the middle of north and south – the chance is almost always 50/50.

We last had snow in early November and without recent precipitation and surrounded by mountains, bad air from smog and other forms of pollution get trapped, making the sky hazy and foggy.

It’s been getting earlier each year. Normally, we see this around mid-January, not December.

Finally, I will definitely not forget seeing Bryce Canyon in its wintry beauty last year. It looked so different from all of my previous visits which were during either the warmer months or late winter when all the snow had melted off.