December Daily: a winter's tale

[resonant]

mific -- a winter's tale. Anything wintry, good or bad.

Hm -- I don't have much. I'm from North Carolina, and when I moved to Illinois for college, I was not prepared for Midwestern winters. I didn't have any shoes heavier than Keds. My winter "coat" was a sort of a capelike thing; it was heavy and well-lined, but the wind would blow right up it. And I didn't know there was more than one kind of snow.

Since coming north, I've seen:

- Big clumps of feather-light snow that settles on every leaf and branch and stays there looking magical until the slightest breeze blows it off

- Hard pellets of snow -- tinier than hail, drier than sleet -- that make a tiny hissing sound when they fall

- Incredibly big, sparkly snowflakes, easily examined with the naked eye if you happen to have a dark-colored coat, that pile up on the hills looking like a special effect

- Wet snow that's half rain, heavy and gray, finding every place where your shoes aren't waterproof

- Big, fast, horizontal snow; look out your window and it's snowing, look out your window five minutes later and the roads are covered

- Old snow in the city, discolored gray where the cars are and yellow where the dogs are

- Old snow in the country that piled lightly along a ridge and then gradually broke off, leaving a jagged edge


Did I miss any?


Comment to leave me a prompt! Steal mific's prompt if you want to do the meme yourself!

12 -- runpunkrun -- advice you've found useful
13 -- terminally_underwhelmed -- things that change, things that don't.
14 -- watersword -- Tell me about a memorable meal.
15 -- anitac588 -- Chris Evans.
16 --
17 -- ride_4ever -- birthdays
18 -- muccamukk -- Dwarvish things in your everyday life. (Moved from the 17th so ride_4ever could get the birthday date.)
19 -- jesse_the_k -- advice you regret following
20 -- copracat -- memory.
21 -- rhi -- cats.
22 --
23 -- laurenthemself -- Something spooky that's happened to you
24 --
25 --
26 --
27 --
28 --
29 --
30 --
31 --

Comments

[lunabee34]

I have never lived anywhere with regular snow. It is always a Surprise Event!

[fox]

Glistening shiny snow that looks like snow in the air but is so heavy and wet that if four inches fall what you end up with on the car and the sidewalk is about an inch and a half of crusty white snow on top of about a half inch of compressed ice. Ditto the tree branches and power lines of course. And it’s so heavy the lightweight trucks with plow attachments can’t really meaningfully shift it.

Good times.

[resonant]

We got six inches on Halloween this year. :(

[resonant]

Oh, ugh. I haven't had that often, but it sucks.

I forgot to add the kind of snow you get when it's below zero, light and small and too dry to stick together, blowing in impenetrable drifts over the state highway, blowing back into the driveway even while you're shoveling it out.

[mific]

Snow was always a special event for me, too, even when I lived in Christchurch. I had no idea there were so many different kinds!

gratuitous icon comment

[jesse_the_k]

There's a tiny plus to that sort of snowfall though: the next day when the sunrise breezes toss diamond curtains of snow through the air.

[resonant]

Oh, yes, I've definitely seen that. Nice when I'm on foot -- worrisome when I'm driving.

[resonant]

When I lived in North Carolina, I only knew one kind:: big wet clumps of flakes that mostly melted as soon as they hit the grass.

[laurenthemself]

I've never even seen snow! This is amazing!

[resonant]

You can hear snow, too. When there's no wind, you can hear it hitting the ground. And when the temperature is below about 20 F, the snow underfoot squeaks.