Another Thursday snowstorm

Cross street looks pretty clear of snow

My plans to go out for a nice hike today were again dashed by a snowstorm that hit last night. Although it was quite pleasant for most of the day yesterday, and the areas to the south of us were forecast to receive heavy rain, we in the northwestern part of the state had a cold wind coming down from Canada's Fraser Gap: very cold, and it turned what would otherwise have been quite a deluge of rain into snow. And lots of it, starting yesterday afternoon when the temperatures fell. We thought it would be over by now, but it's already well into Thursday afternoon and the temperature is still sitting right around freezing. Snow plows and salt were dispatched on the streets overnight, and although it didn't seem like a good time to get behind the wheel of my car, the streets really didn't look too bad around noon. 

Heavy, wet snow

So I went for a walk. Melanie texted me that she went for a snowshoe adventure by herself, and I walked from my place to Rite Aid and back, around two miles. It was completely different snow from a couple weeks ago when it was so cold (that snow was more like Colorado powder). This was more like what is known around here as Cascade Concrete. Nothing powdery about it. And I discovered it was way harder to walk on plowed streets when a layer of wet snow remains. It was very slippery, and although it was harder to navigate, I chose to walk where sidewalks would be if they hadn't been buried under six inches of snow.

I noticed that I could walk on the street if a chained vehicle had gone through earlier, because it roughed up the snow enough to make my footing much less dicey. I realized when I got back home that I had carried my microspikes in my pack and had forgotten about them. Although I slipped and slid, I didn't actually fall. Except once, that is, when two pedestrians saw me struggling to cross the street and came to my aid. The three of us were laughing uproariously as we made it to the sidewalk.

A very Christmas-y look

The trees were heavily laden with snow, and since there is little to no wind, it built up on the trees, giving them a holiday touch. A little late, but still pretty, if you've got a taste for that on a dreary winter day when you'd rather be seeing sunshine. The weather gods got this one wrong, since the temperature was supposed to climb well into the 40s (around 7-8°C). We are sure to get that heavy rain sometime later tonight, which hopefully will melt much of this snow.

April 2021

And just to give us all an uplifting reminder that flowers WILL return and be gorgeous, I am showing you a picture from Roozengaarde Tulip Gardens from last April. It's a reminder that seasons come and seasons go, and as long as we're here to enjoy them, I can even be happy with slippin' and slidin' now and then.

:-)