We just can’t seem to get a break from annoying weather. Every since winter reared its ugly head last week, it seems something is constantly falling from the sky that requires our attention—snow, sleet, freezing rain.
Yesterday I was relieved to finally get our steep driveway in good shape after the freezing rain. I went inside to have lunch and within an hour a snow squall appeared that quickly deposited a half-inch of snow. I grudgingly went back outside and started all over again.
After last week’s 17-inch snowfall, the temperatures immediately plunged below zero, freezing everything in place. I’m glad I cleared the snow from my arborvitaes, otherwise they probably would’ve been permanently mangled. It’s painful to drive around the area and view all of the damaged trees and shrubs. Some trees just simply snapped in two.
The National Weather Service reported that the snow in our big snowstorm was 20 times heavier (more dense) than normal. Perhaps that would explain why it looked so strange. I don’t remember ever seeing anything quite like it. The snow resembled Styrofoam, fake snow from a can, or perhaps vanilla frosting. It was stark white and it attached itself to any horizontal or even vertical surface like it had been slammed there by blunt force (which might make sense if the storm had produced high winds, but they never materialized).
Even when the temperatures finally got into the 30s for several days, the strange white stuff didn’t melt much at all—not even on vertical, south-facing surfaces. That’s just weird. One week later, it’s still plastered on tree limbs and stoplights and playground equipment as if the storm had just passed hours ago.
As we enter our third year of winters that aren’t kidding around, we should be getting used to this, but I still haven’t quite adjusted. Sometimes I feel like I’m trapped in a snowglobe.
