Knyszyn Forest in light mode

Winter — with snow and a hard frost — lasting for weeks, not days. A rare commodity in the Forest. On top of that, snow was falling during a deep freeze, and a lot of it piled up — that’s an even rarer sight. I missed conditions like that, so I enjoyed the snow the way my dog does. Not only because December darkness is unbearable, but also because of temperature. It turned out I’d been missing frost, too: a solid −15°C feels completely different than the annoying chill of humid air around zero. The hard freeze brought back phenomena I hadn’t seen in a long time — forest streams froze solid; the floodplain on Czeremchowa Tryba did too, and I crossed it on cross‑country skis. All of it is wonderful.

I added a few photos from the winter Knyszyn Forest to the site — more as documentation of how the forest looks in winter than as any cohesive series.

The forest as a reservoir

There’s also another thing connected with snow that’s been talked about a lot lately — or maybe I just read about it a lot.

Water.

As I write this, there’s almost 20 cm of snow in the Forest. That’s a lot compared to the last few winters, but not much if you look further back. When the thaw comes, there will be more water — but only a bit, and we’re short by a lot. Hydrological forecasts aren’t particularly optimistic, especially for the southern part of Knyszyn Forest. A lot depends on the pace at which the snow cover melts; I hope as slowly as possible, because the autumn drought was terrifying. And it’s not as if only I, on my gravel hill, should care — this forest is where Białystok’s water comes from.

But anyway — for now it’s still beautiful. Winter Knyszyn Forest is a completely different world than summer: fairy‑tale views, loads of tracks — roe deer, deer, wild boar, wolves — everything visible as if on a map. Let it last a little longer.