[VonBarb.]

I hear all of your points guys, but - no offense - you're not from around here .
I understand that for Americans or Norwegian guys Winter means Snow, but I live in a place where everybody freaks out when there's only so little as 2 inches of snow on the roads. I haven't walked in snow in two years, and though the current climate changes might be responsible, snow was never really commonplace around here. Even when it does snow, it's only for a couple of days at most, so plain white landscapes could be considered rare enough not to be modelled.

Of course with tougher winters, you might expect more snow, but not A LOT more. The Ardennes, Germany or continental France you guys probably know from famous battles fought there are several hundred miles further up North or inland, near different seas, and that makes a difference.

I'll make decent research and come up with actual, factual data for you to see what I mean...

Cheers

Nico

[Friendly_flyer]

I've tried to find Google Earth maps with snow on them from the climatic zone in question, but so far without luck. Perhaps there'll be something I can use from Asia.

The thing is that the world may look very different from the ground and from the air. I do know what you mean by the mud & snow landscape, but in my experience just moving from the road to the forest can mean a change in temperature of 5

[Friendly_flyer]

I think I've found some relevant pictures, Porco Rosso. In Google Earth, there's a square around Vize, in Western Turkey (type in Vize, Akpinar, Turkey) with snow. Here's what the place looks like in the summer:



Winter pictures:

Notice snow seem to cover hedgerows, and depressions in the terrain


Snow lies rather uniformly in the forest, but have melted off the fields and along the roads


Snow accumulated here and there, probably partly due to having been moved by hand


Notice the general colour of the terrain compared to the summer picture, and the very interesting distrubution of snow and bare ground.

[VonBarb.]

Yes FF, that's pretty close. It would look good on many maps IMO
Anyway, since I couldn't find any real data on weather conditions in my area (Eastern Britany/SW Normandy) for the years 39-45, I went and asked my grandmother who lived in Normandy from 1928-1946 ( and still has a pretty good memory for someone her age ) told me it used to be snowing every Winter from around Christmas to early March until around the 1960s. She's not quite sure when it stopped as she then moved to Paris. Maybe 'Winter' as I know it is a more recent thing than I thought.
Globally, the few results I've come up with on the net showed that the 1920s-1950s period was colder than what is considered 'average'.

Obviously, some towns got more snow than others, so while some places were under 5 inches of snow for 3 months, others remained bare the entire Winter. Of course we can't model that, so I think out best bet is to go for a snowy landscape, although lighter than Russian winter textures. I think a blend between 'heavy' and 'light' snow textures would be the best compromise and give a pretty convincing result.

Cheers

Nico

[lowfighter]

It's interesting, I don't know about the weather changes in western Europe, but in Romania the winter conditions changed drastically over the last 30 years at least. 30 years ago I was 10 years old and it was the rule that we had good snow each year and that it will last for months. Now not anymore, persistent snow appears sometimes as a fluctuation. No need for statistics here, everyone in Romania which is older than 20 years knows that because he saw it with his own eyes..

[Friendly_flyer]

The story here in Oslo, Norway is the same, Lowfighter.