Faux Snow

I love snow. I really do.  A good snowfall is one of the few things that can calm my nerves in mere seconds. The sound of my mom's voice, a hug from my amazing husband and snow. That's about it. So while I was a little nervous to move to Alaska for all the culture and climate shock we were sure to encounter, I was calmed by the fact that I would finally live in a land of snow! 

Now that I live here, I am finding that while snow on the ground is nice, nothing quite beats snow falling from the sky. Sadly, we haven't had too much of that so far this year. It is sad that I live in Alaska, and yet am jealous of my family and friends in Georgia, Tennessee and even Texas. I think they are getting more snow fall than we are. Seriously. Don't get me wrong, we have had snow on the ground since October. Because once it falls, it doesn't melt away until sometime in May. But the fresh new falling snow? That has been quite scarce. The reason? Crazy cold temperatures. 

In the south, the wait for snow looked like this: we would hear a hint of snow to come in the forecast. "Did you hear? Did you hear? There is like a 20% chance that it will snow!!!" And then everyone makes a mad dash for the store to stock up on pantry items. Then you hunker down at home and hope that the temperature drops low enough so that you get beautiful snow instead of crazy cold rain. 

Here? A totally different scenario. Here we have to hope that it will be warm enough for snow. Seriously. In Alaska, it actually gets too cold for snow. Once it gets to be in the single digits and lower, the air is extremely dry. No moisture in the air equals not a cloud in the sky. And as you might have guessed, no clouds equals no snow. None. Zip, zilch. Nada. 

The snow fall we received in October was really a teaser for me. It was our first snow here and it was PERFECT! Huge fluffy flakes of snow falling fast for a good three straight days. We accumulated a good 2 feet with that one snow. It was wonderful and I was thrilled at the prospect of seeing this on a regular basis. Want to know the next time it snowed here? December 24th. That's right. Not only was it a full two months later, but it was also the day we left for Texas!! The entire week we were in Texas, our little home in Alaska was being blanketed in snow and I was missing it. Now I will say that I wouldn't trade seeing my family for a little snow, but the timing was a bit vexing to me. Especially considering that all the snow stopped the day before our return. 

This week has been nice. It has warmed up to the twenties and the clouds have rolled in bringing in SNOW! Sadly, it's not snowing right now. In fact, there isn't a cloud in the sky, but it looks like it is snowing because we have a gentle breeze that is slowly blowing the snow off of the trees. It is cascading down in huge beautiful white clumps and giving the illusion of snowfall. A faux snow if you will. Hey, I'll take what I can get.

I am told that come March, the temps will warm up enough that we will get "dumped on" and I will be sick of shoveling snow. Let's hope so. At this point, I'd LOVE to be sick of shoveling snow. Bring it on weather man! Bring it on!