The winter arrived this year woth a bang. In the morning I was wondering how long did I sleep because it was not so dark outside. Opening the blinds (and checking the clock) revealed the truth: everything outside was covered with a few centimeters of snow.
It's a big difference. Last night I was driving in the rain and it was really dark even where there was street lights. The wet asphalt and ground really suck all that light. Now it's all white and the ground is almost like a mirror reflecting even the faintest light.
The downside is that it's just barely below zero degrees and the ground is still warm so the falling snow is quickly turning into slush making everything wet and dirty.
I doubt this first snow will remain on the ground until spring. It's usually back and forth between snow, slush and just wet darkness during this time of the year.