While people down south have been gleefully shoveling rare snow and building gray snowmen, February has been unseasonably warm on the prairies. Like scary warm, with temperatures barely dipping below zero and daytime highs of 4-8 C.

Instead of snow Calgary has been frequently blanketed by insanely thick fog. The kind that muffles all the sounds and gives a cathedral like hush to the city. The kind that turns the sky dusky white, even in broad daylight. The kind that settles in a kind of beautiful hoar frost all over trees and railings and bushes and mailboxes. The kind that feels like there’s magic in the air and it could swallow you whole.

Most of the time this happens at night lending an otherworldly stillness to the evenings, but the photos below were taken at 2 pm or so on a Saturday a couple of weeks ago. It was enchanting, and I have a feeling we will dearly pay for this with crappy weather in April/May/June/July – take your pick.

Does someone want to tell me why this tree in my front yard never shed its leaves? Thanks.