Our First Snow

Yes, it snows here!!! It started snowing a few days ago - at 38 F! I was surprised it was snowing and told the kids to enjoy watching it come down since I didn't think it would stick. However, over the next 2 hours, we watched our digital thermometer steadily drop (you can actually "watch" it on a digital one, since it goes 38.4, 38.3, 38.2..... :) By nightfall, we had just shy of 2 inches on the trees, cars, and cold surfaces!!! One of the reasons for the cold weather here is the arctic wind pattern that blows through here. If not for the wind, the weather itself would feel much warmer. But the wind is so biting and cold it feels like Illinois' wind in the dead of winter. Brrrrrrr!!!

From our front steps...looking out toward the school. If you double click on this picture, you can see that the snow's coming down pretty good. That was in the first hour.

I thought the snow on the bamboo and on the pine tree made a striking picture.

We had hung laundry out to dry in the morning - it was in the 50's. By afternoon when the snow started, we had to pull the laundry in and finish drying it on the floor. We learned something interesting about the weather pattern here. Apparently, it gets really cold like we've had the last few days for about 3 days. Then it warms up over the next 4 days. We've been told it continues in this pattern throughout winter...very cold 3 days, not so cold 4 days. What a way to easily catch a cold!!! Today seems to be bearing that out so far...the sun is out, the snow is melted, and the weather is back up at 54 F.