Fall Freeze

It's not even December yet and the Songhua is already frozen solidly enough for people to walk across it!

Ice City Roads

We got a lot of snow (for here) this November plus the usual fluctuations in temperature, which resulted in some incredibly icy roads even for Harbin! Pictured is the first bus I tried to take home from work. It got most of the way up this hill coming out of Qunli, but then got stuck on the black ice at the intersection. Most of us got out two or three times to try to push it along, but after moving a bit it would stall again and I finally called it and started the long walk home...

First(ish) Snow of Fall

Technically this was our second snowfall this fall, but it's the first that stuck! Early November and we're already into the winter weather, but I guess we can be grateful things got going in November instead of October!

Sadly enough, the bad visibility in the photo is due more to the incredibly bad air pollution lingering from the night before (when it was off the chart up in the 1,000s) than to the snow. The screenshot is from 9pm the night before. As you can see, by that point half the stations had maxed out at 999. (Later on in the evening when I checked all but two had maxed out.) By way of comparison, if I'm not mistaken a "bad" air day in Los Angeles or London is when the readings get up over the 70s. Not the 700s mind, the 70s. I won't lie, I can't help wondering when the lung cancer diagnosis is coming!

Dusk On Zhongyang Dajie

The air pollution isn't a great feature of life in Harbin in the fall and winter, but it does make for some gorgeous sunrises and sunsets! I took this at dusk a few days ago looking across Zhongyang Avenue down West 13th Street.

Fall Sunset in Daoli

Apologies for the poor quality of the photo, but it does capture a little of how gorgeous yesterday's sunset was! Fall is such a beautiful time of the year (until the air pollution hits anyways!). This is looking out over the south end of Daoli District, with Qunli off in the distance in the right of the picture.

Common Sense Takes A Holiday

I sometimes think common sense has taken a holiday here...a long, long, possibly permanent holiday! This is of the metro construction along Hongqi Avenue in eastern Harbin, and if you look closely on the left under the trees you can see a mom and her toddler, not even two meters away from where a huge steel beam is being lowered into the earth. There's nothing protecting them beyond the flimsy barricade pictured - one slip and someone will have lost his wife and child in an instant.

Fall Light

There is such beautiful light in the fall! The haze of the fall air pollution can make the light especially wonderful, in a coughing-inducing, cancer-causing kind of way...

Late Fall

The Majiagou River (seen here where it crosses Zhongshan Road) is starting to freeze over. I'm told it won't be long before the Songhua itself does the same! Winter's comin'!

Winter's Coming

It seems preparations are underway at the school near my apartment complex for an ice skating rink - winter's coming!

Passersby Beware!

This has got to be a safety hazard! Never a dull moment...

Post-Apocalyptic Harbin

Some days the heaviness of the air pollution give Harbin an almost beautiful, post-apocalyptic feel. Except, of course, that life goes on, albeit with a somewhat noticeable uptick in the number of people wearing face masks.

Compare and Contrast

The view of the city from my apartment building on a nice day. (Air pollution readings in the 40s - the 60s or 70s at the worst.)

The view of the city from my apartment building on a day when the air pollution is off the charts. (My app doesn't tell me the numbers after the pollution readings pass the 500 mark.) 

Fall in Harbin

This was the view looking north from my apartment complex a couple of days ago. Grim and getting grimmer as the weather cools off. We're having a lovely day today - air pollution readings in the 40s - but they've generally been over 200 lately, and often over 300 or 400. I'm told this year the city is gradually turning on the heating plants - hence the slowed plunge into air pollution - but all the same it's going to get worse the closer we get to November. Welcome to fall in Harbin!

Fall in Manchuria

The weather forecast for tonight and tomorrow - tomorrow's high will be 9°C. (That's just barely over 48°F.) 'It's beginning to look a lot like winter...' Although it is the end of September in Manchuria - we were probably overdue for this kind of weather!