It's getting awfully cold these past couple of days. My hometown is located in the southern part of Japan and has a mild climate. I mean, it's not so hot in summer and not so cold in winter. In this winter, however, that's not the case. Though the snow didn't accummulate, it was snowing heavily in the afternoon. Snowfall in December is extremely rare. A TV news report said that the mountainous region, 30 kilometers from here, had had considerable snow. I hurried to an auto-supply shop to swap tires for winter ones. I store four winter tires with wheels in my house and before it starts to snow, I exchange them every winter.
To no one's surprise, more than 20 cars were waiting to exchange tires at the shop even in December. The owners must have been surprised to see the snowfall just like me. I had to wait for two hours, but could replace my present tires with winter tires. I felt relieved and now I can go skiing at any time.
When it comes to skiing, my youngest daughter is in Niigata prefecture now, which is well known as the heavy snowfall area in Japan. It faces the Sea of Japan and the northerly freezing wind brings cold waves from Siberia. I hope she'll enjoy skiing with her friends.
(Vocabulary)
accumulate [自] たまる, 積もる
Huge snowdrifts had accumulated on the airport's runways. 大きな雪の吹きだまりが空港の滑走路にできていた．
winter tire スタッドレスタイヤ 〔英米ではstudless tireという言い方はしない。〕
an auto-supply shop / an automotive supply house 自動車用品店
swap [他] …を交換する, 取り替える
Do you want to swap umbrellas? 傘を取り替えっこする？
swap sth for sth ＜…＞を＜…＞と交換する
replace (タイヤ・電池など)を交換する
replace sth with sth ＜…＞を＜…＞に切り替える
Most washing machines need to be replaced after about ten years. 大半の洗濯機は10年ほどで買い替えが必要になる．
at any time いつでも
heavy snowfall area 豪雪地帯
northerly 北の, 北への; (風が) 北からの
cold wave 寒波
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