Mountain Musings
By M.I. Lee
Good Snow, Bad Snow
This winter has been one in which the pundits have raised much speculation over its implications insofar as Global Warming is concerned.
While I won’t enter into that debate, I am interested in making some observations on weather during the past 30 days.
How one sees it depends on many factors: convenience/inconvenience, beauty/ugliness, expense/economy, North/South/East/West, and others.
Let’s just take a look at the most recent snowfall in the Eastern U.S. and its effect on two places: Washington, D.C. and Franklin, North Carolina.
In Washington, it brought nearly everything to a halt, including Congress, which, judging from the state of their previous inaction, was simply another aspect of their governance. No one could get in or out of the area. Air and land travel ceased. Power was out in many areas. Their distress was broadcast throughout the world. This was a “BAD SNOW” in every sense of the word to them.
Here in the Southern Appalachians, it was different. “Snow Days”, when schools are closed due to weather, brought children and their families out for sledding on snowy roads and ice skating on lakes that hadn’t been so frozen for years. Other people stayed at home and clustered around the fireplace in periods of togetherness that are rare nowadays. Mouth-watering meals were cooked that warmed the body and pleased the palate. Our heroes, the road crews, worked early and late to ensure that those who needed to travel to work could get there safely. Tales were told in the local coffee shops about how deep the snows were “in the olden days”. Bird food was strewn atop the snow for our feathered friends, squirrels and various nocturnal creatures who need the sustenance when natural food is scarce.
There are two scenes from our snowfall that stand out in my mind. The first and foremost is centered on a Tulip Poplar tree that stands at the edge of our lawn directly in view of our living room window. The upper limbs were sawed off by power company crews a few years ago, so that new growth emerged lower on the trunk. That encouraged the tree to send out its beautiful green and orange tulip-shaped blooms at a lower elevation than the top of the tree, which is the common place. In spring we fully enjoyed this treat-but there was more. After the bloom petals drop and the seeds are released, the sepals become hardened and stand upright in a fluted manner. With the recent snowfall, which was dry and fluffy, the sepal cups each held a “tulip” bud of white snow, and the tree was festooned with them. I had never before experienced such a sight, even though I have had many years of snowfall experiencing.
The second, although not so dramatic, scene was when the sun came out after the snowfall. The sky was a deep cobalt blue, and the snow-covered mountainsides and vegetation stood out in sharp contrast. Then, suddenly, the angle of the sun’s beams lit up the snow with the sparkle of a trillion diamonds; a bedazzling sight to behold.
Those were the reasons for our snow being a “GOOD SNOW”.
