It really happened. The meteorologists forecast it, and we got it. Snow in October. It’s the first time, they say, that the white stuff stuck on the ground in the Big Apple in October since they started keeping records back in 1870.
I’m not really surprised. This has been quite a year for weather events, especially if you include the late-December blizzard of 2010. Then came the back-to-back snowstorms in January that resulted in an extended stay in Atlanta visiting our grandchildren–flying there the night before and returning home a day later. (We did not complain about spending extra time with the family!)
Once spring finally came, it was beautiful and even more welcome than usual. (Of course, with our daughter being engaged and getting married, even if it had stormed into summer, the sun would have been shining.) Feeling the warmth and then the incredible heat of summer, we began to forget about the power of storms.
But then came Irene. This monster hurricane was not content to wreak havoc on coastal areas in the tropics and southern climates. Communities as far north and as far inland as Vermont and the Adirondack Mountains in New York felt the tempest’s fury. After the water receded, people throughout the eastern United States began to hope for a respite. Which many of us had, until today.
I usually find the first snowfall beautiful, a bit of softness taking the edge off the starkness of the bare trees. However, most trees are in full leaf, and many leaves have not yet begun changing color. It seems incongruous.
But then again, maybe it’s not. We have been the recipients of many a spring snowfall, dusting flower-laden trees with a layer of the white stuff–and it was lovely. This even more unusual event also has its own beauty, a beauty which lies in its rarity. The weather will warm up again before winter really comes for its annual sojourn. So for the few brief hours that the world is coated in white, let’s pause and enjoy something that the area has not seen in at least 140 years.
