Dumped On

No one has used the D-word yet, at least not publicly, to describe the unusually dry conditions in the region within which I reside.

But there's been talk of below-normal water levels, of below-normal snowpack in the mountains, of declaring watering restrictions on lawns ... the D-word being drought.

So it came as a huge relief when we got dumped on last night, to the tune of an estimated nine inches of snow.

The snow began falling late Friday afternoon and went on through the night. A winter storm warning was in effect for most of Saturday – well, all of it – and while it wasn't the paralyzing snow I hoped for, the sort that brings a city to its knees, it will go a long way toward easing current dry conditions.

We had a pretty bad drought a few years back, and a big snowstorm totally wiped it out. Some two feet of snow fell in a twenty-four hour period, a substantial snow with a high moisture content. Shoveling that dense and heavy stuff totally wrecked my back. But it leveled the drought single-handedly, so it was worth it.

This current snow is not of that scope. This is unfortunate. But it still should go a long way toward alleviating present conditions.

I went out with my camera around nine o'clock this morning to record a few images. Didn't find anything very dramatic, such as a fifteen car pileup caused by treacherously slippery roads. Nor did I find a boisterous group of kids building a snow fort or having a snowball fight, or even sledding.

After that big snowstorm of some years back, as we all dug out from beneath the accumulation, snow plows came through our cul-de-sac and left an enormous snow mountain in its middle. The kidlets were still small then, so I carved a sled run in the side of the mountain and for several days they used it to great effect. Then, with other kids on the block, they began tunneling into the snow mountain's side. Before long they hollowed out a sort of igloo. The general consensus among parents on our street was that this represented a serious safety hazard. So we kept the kids out of it, and in a day or two the sun came out; the bright and steady sunshine weakened the igloo and it collapsed.