The average speed of winter is 5 meters per second in the steppe and in the desert, but only 2 meters per second in the valleys. When I first read those words as a girl, I did not understand what they meant. I was in the high plains of my life, had I but known it, and winter was approaching at great speed. Now I am old and grey, and winter drags on interminably as I wander these pale, silent valleys.
…
“The Speed of Winter”
Speed of Winter
Published 08-May-2012
About the story: I read a note in a UNDP Human Development Report about the speed of winter, and it triggered a bleak novelette about hope and dreams.