We had a bit of snow yesterday, enough to... well, enough.
When I first moved to snow country, I was surprised by a few snow... err, features? characteristics? results? Something like that.
The biggest, and the one that always amazes me still, is the way the world glows in the dark. Even with only a few stars, the local lighting from the city is enough to make everything glow and sparkle in the middle of the night. Get a full moon, and it's almost like daylight, somehow. I still can't quite get over that, and always sleep so I can see the glowiness from my bed if I can. (And glowiness is all I can make out once my contacts are out, but still, glow!)
Another thing was the sounds, the sounds of car tires crunching, of feet crunching, of this weird sort of creak. I guess I didn't expect that at all.
And finally, snow is a lot dryer than I'd realized, especially if it's really cold when it snows.
There was a movie on TV that I saw part of at some point, where the temperature in, say New York, dropped drastically, and the characters were talking about it being so cold that you couldn't survive even moving with gear on, and it was snowing. And now I know that when it's super duper cold, it doesn't much snow. Or something.
I dug out my driveway several times yesterday, a few inches each time. One time, by the time I'd finished the four inches or so that were there, it had snowed another inch. But it was dryish, that inch, and quick to push off to the side. When I got up this morning, there was probably another inch on the drive, and the street hadn't been plowed, and other trucks and SUVs had driven on the street, so I was fine to get out and didn't have a problem staying in their tracks and getting to where the plow had been. I expect I won't be able to get to my drive this afternoon without a goodly bout of shoveling the berm. I hate the berm.
The good news all around is that there should be GREAT skiing, and soon! I wonder how long it will take them to groom up the golf course?
If all the rain we've had in the past week had been snow, I'd be stuck at home right now. Not that that's a bad thing....
ReplyDeleteI grew up with snow, so it's fun to see what surprises non-natives about my favorite form of precipitation :). The "it's too cold to snow" adage helped me understand the relationship between air temp and relative humidity...
ReplyDeleteI am totally having snow envy. I needed an umbrella today, which is just SO wrong this far north in December.
ReplyDeleteSnow envy here too! I used to live in snow country, and your descriptions capture it perfectly... I miss the glow and the crunch. (I do not, however, miss digging out the driveway.)
ReplyDeleteWe had a good dump last night. That's it for clear streets and sidewalks until May if we're lucky. It's funny but I've never gotten into x-country skiing, despite the ideal conditions hereabouts. Mostly it's the lack of time and the fact that I would have to go a long ways to the closest trails. I stick to walking the dogs instead.
ReplyDeleteThe moon on the breast of the newfallen snow gave the luster of midday to objects below.
ReplyDeleteI love the quiet after snow falls -- everything hushed. (Particularly after a big dump... few cars are out.
ReplyDeleteI don't live in snow country any more, and I mostly don't miss it, but that, yes.
I don't love living in snow country, as I now do (though granted: I don't live in snow country like YOU live in snow country!), but I do really love that. It's especially nice in the depths of winter, when the days are so short and so generally grey.
ReplyDeleteBut if we don't get our first snow until Jan., I won't complain...