More Facts about Winter in Karelia

It is often said that winter lasts 5 months in Karelia. From November till March. Or even 6 months - that is half a year - from the middle of October till the middle of April or so.
I would say it's true, but only for northern parts of Karelia, at least if to associate winter with snow constantly lying on the ground without melting and some quantity of ice on lakes and rivers.

Here, where I live, in Petrozavodsk city which is located in southern part of Karelia, we sometimes wait for snow even in December. I say "wait" because most of the population living here really thinks and even feels that snow puts the end to that dullness of the deep fall.
Snow makes the land white, reflects the lights of the streets, lights of the houses' windows and makes the city brighter. Besides that, snow means winter funs such as skiing, skating and lots of others.

Heavy snowfalls are not a rare thing for us. Last year, I mean the passed winter of 2009-2010, was a very good example.
During that winter the largest snowfall as I remember happened in December. After the few next ones we almost forgot how ground and asphalt look like until spring.

Maybe it would be interesting for you to know about the usual quantity and deepness of snow here in Karelia during our cold season.
I should say it varies from year to year though not too much. Again the previous winter. Though December and the beginning of January were very snowy in the end of February the snow in the forest was only knee deep. Nevertheless, I remember years when I "walked" in the forest waist deep in snow.

Ok, the thread of the "story" is leading to the topic of skiing and other possibilities given by snow, but I think I'll leave it now for the next time.