I'm dreaming of a white Thursday...

The snow has been falling all week this week, here in the lovely mountains of Colorado!  It snowed all night from Monday into Tuesday, and all night last night.  It's still coming down.

Now, those of you who are not familiar with the mountains in a desert area are probably thinking, "Duh, crazy lady, of course the snow is falling.  You're in the  MOUNTAINS."  Well, you'd think we get a lot of snow.  We really don't.  And not usually this time of year either.

It might come down slightly during the winter, but our snows are usually heaviest in the spring. We get spring snows rather than spring rains.  It makes it seem like the mountains have only three seasons:  A very long fall where everything is brown and it gets cold sometimes, a short winter with lots of snow, in the wrong time of year, and summer when it's just too hot during the day but the nights make up for it.

We've gathered up probably 10 inches of snow this week alone, and it hasn't melted.  THAT is the weird thing here.  See, where I'm from, in Nebraska, the snow falls like this and sticks around because it stays cold.  Here, we usually have it melting off in the bright sun the day after it falls.  It makes it hard for the kids to find time to sled, and means we don't really have snowplows roaming the side streets.  Usually the plows just spread sand or salt or a mixture of the two to melt what's on the roads.  There's not usually enough to push off the sides.

We get these lovely snow-steam effects in the streets and you can SEE the snow evaporating away.  It's really rather interesting!  I'd never seen anything like it before I moved here.  It's all because we're living at about 6000 feet above sea level, and the sun is closer, and the rays feel hotter here, humidity being equal...  It melts things off faster and keeps overall temps higher.

Snow evaporating video:
 


So days like this are strange.  Back to back snows, for one thing.  But the previous snow had not melted at all is another.  It's not going to accumulate much more before the afternoon, I can tell that from the way the storm has changed from real snow to flurries...

But for now, I enjoy the view with my coffee, the kids are having fun running from outside to inside.  They're taking turns shoveling, sledding down the hill in our backyard, and drinking hot cocoa to warm back up again.  I have to work later, but today is a good day.  I wonder if it will be busy at work because it's just before Christmas, or if it will be quiet because of the snow.  It could be we were slammed at work yesterday because people knew the snow was coming and freaked out quite a bit.  Could be.

Anyway.  I need to go write my snowy cabin story now.  I got an idea for it yesterday finally.  It's hard to make things not what they'd seem sometimes!  Off I go then!  And if you're in a snowy spot today like I am, take a moment to enjoy the view, even if you know it will mean shoveling and scraping off cars later.

And remember!  It's only 3 days until Christmas!  Hang out and stare at your tree, or enjoy the lights outside at the neighbors' if you don't celebrate yourself.  It's pretty out there.