Sewing For Global Warming

One of the things the scientists promised us, because of global warming, were more temperature extremes and storms.  Last winter was particularly bad, with two large snow storms within a matter of weeks.  This winter is shaping up to be just as extreme with a snow storm to equal what we had last year and a record low daytime temperature of 0.4 deg Celsius on Wednesday.  The kids had a few days off school last week because of the conditions and spent every waking moment indulging in snow activities.  We took the opportunity yesterday to day trip to Porters Pass in the Southern Alps for a spot of tobogganing. 

This is something we have promised the kids for years but the timing has always been off, i.e. snow falling early in the week and melted before the weekend.  This time however, the conditions were perfect and for an hour at least we had the entire side of a hill to ourselves, complete with .5-1m of the white powdery stuff.  You can just about make us out, above, in amongst the tussock, battling our way up the slope in the thick snow.

One thing that has become apparent over the week though, is our complete lack of snow appropriate clothing. Note the  rubber gloves out of my laundry in the photo above.  Aside from not owning waterproof gloves, my son also doesn't own snow boots and I have discovered that gumboots do not cut it in the snow.  Yesterday, I had to wring out his socks at the end of the day.  One thing, I did do right though, is waterproof pants.  These were originally made for my older children when they were school crossing volunteers and had to stand out in all weather to patrol the crossing.  Although, not lined, they have been invaluable this week in keeping my kids, reasonably dry.  Given that snow seems to be a common occurrence now, I feel I really need to be more prepared for this sort of weather.  You can probably guess what is going to be next in my long queue of sewing projects....