The Right Description

It has been said that the hearty people that live in the most northern climates have hundreds of names for snow depending on the type or volume, how it fell or piled up, the amount of moisture trapped in the flakes or the fluffiness of the accumulation.

Here on the farm we have the same descriptions for rain. There are spritzes and gully-washers with loads and loads of in-between words. On those occasions when we get a wintery mix of both rain and snow, the names are endless.

Before stepping out of the house I took a glance at my weather station, the overnight temperature was 30 degrees but had warmed to 33 at chore time, a glance out the window showed a light misty drizzle. On the sidewalk and on my rain gauge showed the drizzle had frozen. The coating on the sidewalk was thin and fragile, it broke when I stepped on it so no slippery areas. The rain gauge had all of its components melded together by the mixture of moisture and cold. I had to take it inside to warm it before I could disassemble and read the accumulation for the last 24 hours.

I could make out what looked like a tiny flake now and again in the drizzle. Within a couple of hours I was getting descriptions from around the area. My BIL called it slushy rain, another called it a reason to activate the snowplows, it all depended on what micro-climate a person was in.

Here on the farm we had a day of platter-sized flakes that would whiten the landscape before melting with a quick sunbreak. This happened several times throughout the day.

Butler the farm dog who really enjoys a good romp in piled up snow was not in a good mood for the break from the green pastures he has been used to this fall/winter season. He spent the snow time standing patiently near the Gator and getting coated with flakes. Once the shower passed, he ran around until his coat shed the flakes and some of the sloppy water accumulation before waiting patiently during the next show shower.

It appears he needs to get used to this winter weather before he can be convinced that it is a fun winter time activity.