Photos from Paris' Biggest Snowstorm in Twenty Years

For the first time in the five years we've lived here, Paris has several inches of snow on the ground.  This is so unusual, the city really can't handle the snow removal, so there were over a thousand people who got stuck sleeping in their cars on the highways after icing and crashes made them impossible.  Hundreds abandoned their cars and found some other way home.

Luckily, neither of us has to drive to work, so all that had little impact on us.  The roads in our arrondissement seemed less crowded than usual.  For us, it was just lovely white snow decorating the trees and statues in the parks.  Walking on the crunchy, uneven snow on the sidewalks was a little bit of a pain, but not too bad.  I did slip twice, but never fell. 

To get the photos, I walked out our front door and headed through the Champs de Mars.  This is the view down one of the side alleys of the Champs de Mars, where I've gone running in the mornings for most of the last five years.

In several of the photos, you'll see the effect of the way the snow fell all night. The wind blew constantly, and the flakes were so small as to be more like crystals.  The combination of the constant wind and the tiny crystals formed a snowy crust on the windward side of everything.

The morning sun was weak, and the skies were still gray.  It was plenty cold though, with very little wind, so the snow wasn't melting, nor was it being blown off the tree branches.

I don't know why, but something this cold, rainy winter has inspired these cherry blossom trees to try to bloom early.  This was the day before, when the snow had been falling for a few hours.

I can't resist the incredible filigreed detail of thousands of tree branches perfectly dusted with snow.

I really like how the snow crystals glued themselves into a thin layer of frosting right onto the smooth metal of the tower itself.  All the edges were highlighted in white.  

This is beside Avenue de New York, between the Eiffel Tower and the Trocadero.  

I took this photo from almost the same spot as the one above, but facing perpendicular to Avenue de New York.  There were scooters like this everywhere.  A tiny shade of color crept into the sky for a few minutes here, but, sadly, it didn't last. 

A whole series on the statues at the Trocadero.  These are what I planned to take when thinking about the available photographic options for this situation the night before.

These sculptures are a bit larger than life-sized.  I've always liked them, but this is the first time ever to see them with snow on them.

Some people might be surprised by all the nudity, but that's just classical sculpture for you.  Clothing fashion changes all the time, but the human body remains the same through the ages.  

These sculptures are parts of two large clusters on the lower part of the Trocadero. 

Up at the top of the Trocadero, you find this monumental sculpture - about three times life-sized, of man and his bison.  I've always found it a bit of an odd choice, featuring an animal from the American West here.  But I kind of like it also.

A group of statues among the currently-dormant fountains of Trocadero. 

Easy to tell which way the wind was blowing as the snow crystals fell for hours on end overnight.  

One of a pair of statues on the mezzanine level of Trocadero.  The other is a man seen in the background. 

The same two statues, but seen from a different angle.

I have to admit, I was feeling a little sorry for these poor nude statues freezing in the snow.

Before I show you the final beautiful shot, here's a more gritty, slice-of-life shot.  This is on a side street as I was heading to work about noon that day, after returning from shooting all morning. 

I'll leave you with what is probably my favorite photograph of the morning. 

Hope you enjoyed your trip through the biggest snowfall in Paris in the last twenty years!  Please Like, share, or Leave a comment on here or facebook!

Check out these truly spectacular Eiffel Tower photos taken on one of the warmest days of the year in 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, and 2013