Brown snow is generally not a good thing. Especially not in the summertime. But when residents of Olten, Switzerland, took a closer look at the fine brown powder that covered parts of their town last week, they discovered that it was cocoa. And then they rejoiced, because who can possibly be upset when there is cocoa snow?

　　Okay, I don’t actually know if the last part is true. But let it be known that after the source of the cocoa snow was traced to the local Lindt & Spruengli factory, which had a minor defect in its cooling ventilation system, and when Lindt & Spruengli learned that one car had been covered in cocoa and offered to pay the cleaning costs, the owner of the car did not take them up on it. Or at least not by the time the Associated Press filed its report. I imagine this lucky person running their fingers over the car, maybe writing messages in the cocoa dust (like the ever-popular “wash me” or the Swiss-German equivalent) and then licking their fingers greedily.

　　The factory’s ventilation system has since been repaired. The company confirms that the cocoa powder is neither harmful to people nor to the environment. And best of all, chocolate production continued apace, because if there’s anything that could make 2020 an even bigger disaster than it’s already been, it’s a chocolate shortage.