Tag: snow

snow in the South

It’s great to live in the South… for numerous reasons, but on my mind now is how we don’t take snow for granted.   A few days ago, we got about 5 inches of snow here in central Arkansas, and there are still things shut down.  There’s a lack of equipment for clearing roads and bridges, and we often see some degree of ice with these winter storms that produce snow.   The first night of the snow, I saw a local news program that was listing closings on the screen, and one said “City of Conway closed”.  🙂  I’m sure that was meant for the local government, but it was very accurate nonetheless.

I didn’t get to build my (long dreamed of) ginormous snow castle nor Snowzilla, but hopefully there will be other opportunities.  I did get to build a snowman, though, and he’s one tough snowdude.  He has his arms bowed up at his side, ready to fight, and he has a mohawk.  He could definitely beat up your snowman.

On a related note, I had some of the Buffet o’ Blog staff to my house last night, and upon leaving, one of them decided to make buttprints in the snow in my front yard.  Lots of buttprints.  I didn’t take a picture, but you can just imagine… (Yet stranger things have happened…)

our exclusive snow

Last night I had the Buffet o’ Blog staff over to my house, and as always, it was a great time.  Just the sheer amount of awesome in one place is enough to make some people jealous that they weren’t invited.  But we did something that may cause additional feelings of jealousy: We made it snow.  (Yeah, you read that right.)  One of the guys built a snow making machine.  The outside temperature was right at freezing when we started it, but it cooled down enough that we had some accumulation.

I realize we have some readers in other locations, even as far north as Canada, so getting snow may seem ho-hum to you, but here in Arkansas, we haven’t got a real snowfall yet this year — just some ice and sleet.  So this is a big deal.  This is exclusive snow.  And it’s homemade.

man-made snow

Now, don’t be mad or jealous.  I realize you might be tempted to feel that way, because no one else in this area got any snow.  You may be thinking, “What makes you so special, to get snow?”  Well, it’s because we are special.  And we built the snow machine.  🙂

There’s still some in the front yard, even though it has warmed up quite a bit today.   I wonder what the neighbors thought when they saw it…

it’s now winter, they say

As you might’ve heard, winter officially started today, December 21, at 6:04 AM CST.  But I have a problem with this.   See, we had lots of ice here a few days ago, which is most definitely winter weather.  But according to some official consensus, we were getting ice and snow in the fall.  And this is in Arkansas, where we rarely get ice and snow.   Some places in the country have had feet of snow already!

So obviously the system is broken.   And I’m not afraid to challenge the status quo.  We need to devise a new system for determining the seasons.  Now before some sticklers for traditions get crazy over my ideas, I know why the current system is setup.   It’s based on the winter solstice, which is the shortest day of the year.  And I could use more terms like equinoxes and diurnal movements and such, but all that isn’t necessary at this time.  Because whatever it’s based on now, it doesn’t work.

I propose we use a system based on the actual weather.   That just makes a lot more sense.  (Maybe too much…)  I know, it would vary depending on where you are, but that’s fine.  Once it starts snowing, then it’s winter.  When snows have ended and the average high temperature is in the 50s or 60s, then spring is starting.  When the average high temperature starts exceeding 90 degrees, it’s summer.   And so forth.  And note that I’m basing these numbers on Arkansas.  Your results may vary.

Is this too much to ask?  Or can someone suggest a viable reason for keeping it the way it is?

snow

We finally got some snow accumulation here in Conway, AR, last night.  But it was only 1-2″ inches of accumulation.  Russellville got 11″, and they’re only about 45 miles to the northwest.  So we were ripped off.  But at least it’s something, even if it’s mostly melted just a few hours later.

The reason it didn’t accumulate much is because two days ago it was over 70 degrees, with the low in the 60s.  Then it snows the next night, and then tomorrow the high is 62.  But at least we got something.

Since there wasn’t much snow on the ground, I couldn’t build the snow castle / fortress that I’m planning to, but I did build a snow midget.  It’s not much, but at least there was a few minutes of enjoying the snow.

If only I had an industrial-sized snow-maker…