With the 20th-century boom in winter sports, the unloved blankets of snow that stifled the Walser each winter suddenly became white gold, and villages such as Davos, Klosters and Lech grew into famous ski resorts.
Kansas was the epicenter of the winter storm, with parts of the state buried under 14 inches of powdery snow, but winter storm warnings stretched from eastern Colorado through Illinois.
The roads are quieter and orchards lay silent again, waiting for the first blanket of snow and the long hibernation of Himalayan winter.
The state got the brunt of the snow as a winter storm moved past.
The 400-mile stretch of the Sierra Nevada mountains got 61 feet of snow last winter, second only to the 1950-51 season.
According to the World Resources Institute, a lack of snow could also threaten the future of Winter Olympic Games.
Even Valdez, the pretty salmon-fishing town on Prince William Sound at the foot of the mountains, receives an average of eight feet of snow on its rooftops each winter.
Under stable climatic conditions, the ice lost through melting is replenished by winter precipitation in the form of snow.
Relaxing in the lagoon, surrounded by steam, snow (in the winter) and black mountains of lava rock, is a breathtaking and uniquely Icelandic experience.
Heathrow airport has tripled the number of snow clearance vehicles to tackle severe winter weather.
The west London airport came under severe criticism in the winter of 2010 over its failure to cope with snow after it was shut for days.
Many Alaskans revel in the biting air and the pure white of the winter landscape, not to mention the skiing, ice-climbing and snow machine-riding.
It also makes street sweepers, backhoes, and all that snow-clearing equipment the Northeast needed more of last winter.
Nearby, Rick Steiner said he is faced with having to shovel up to 10 feet of snow away from the sides of his three-bedroom home that he amassed from shoveling his roof all winter.
"Lancashire county council is not meeting its duty" to keep roads and pavements free of snow and ice, she claimed, "as is evident from the litany of complaints I receive every winter and the horror stories of accidents, injuries, damage and near misses".
The moors that winter were often under a crust of snow not enough to blanket them in white, but a mean, dirty frosting on the hard earth and wilted shrubs.
The unseasonably warm winter led to slow sales of apparel and snow-related merchandise.
Now they face the punishment of winter: winds, cold, rain and snow.
Late-winter snow also socked other parts of the northern U.S., which as much as 2 feet forecast in parts of Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
To remind workers of the Winter Luge, the company recently gave out snow globes.
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For example, the bright snow- and ice-covered landscapes of Canada and Siberia during winter reflect most solar radiation straight back into space, keeping the surface cold.
They were right: The snow-covered 18 holes of bunkers and straights made for a deliciously snarly winter track.
The Tahoe area historically gets a ton of snow, and while they struggled last winter, this year things seem to be back to normal.
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"We are now half-way through the winter period and would expect further icy conditions and snow before the end of March, " he added.
New York has experienced only 2.06 inches of rain the past 20 days after a winter that set records for snow, which funneled water to tree roots.
Last winter was one of the best ski seasons in history, with excellent snow conditions almost everywhere the white stuff can be found in the United States.
But while the winter months are dark, treacherous and shrouded in a white uniform of snow, summer brings with it the chance to see this part of the world in all its green grassy goodness.
Turnout at the polls was expected to be low, and candidates and election officials braced for a possible winter storm that could dump up to six inches of snow on the region and complicate Tuesday's logistics.
"Following a winter of wind and heavy snow disrupting sporting fixtures and with spring in the air, we thought all our troubles were over, " says BBC Wales' head of sport, Geoff Williams.
Or you can try the Snowy Mountain Winter Village that offers two hours of dog sledding and a bunch of activities like snow shoeing and tobogganing.
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