Let it snow, let it snow

Southwestern Nebraska is due its first major winter storm of the season this weekend. The anticipation of the white stuff falling from the sky takes me back to my school days in Arkansas when it snowed a lot more than it does now. My whole extended family loved snow and always anxiously anticipated the first snow. For some reason, it seemed like it always started snowing sometime during the night and my mom or grandmother, or aunt, or great-grandmother would run into my bedroom and wake me up with the news that it was snowing.

The snow in Arkansas was different from the snow in Nebraska in a couple of ways. Because there was a lot more moisture in the air, the snow was always wet, unlike the dry snow we tend to get here. It was perfect for snowballs, snowmen, and snow ice cream. If you haven't had snow ice cream, you're missing out on an awesome treat. There are recipes for it on the internet but I remember going out with a big bowl and scraping the top level of snow off our car and taking it back to the kitchen. The women would then mix the fresh fallen snow with vanilla flavoring and milk and whip it into the best tasting stuff in the world. I would sometimes eat it until I got sick. I'm planning on making a batch this weekend if the forecast holds true and the wind doesn't blow the snow off all the flat places. That was the second difference. The wind. Snowfalls in Arkansas were hardly ever accompanied by wind. The snow would fall gently from the sky and everything was so still you could literally hear the giant flakes hitting the ground. I loved taking walks in the middle of a gentle falling snow. No one was outside, there were few, if any, cars on the streets and it was just the most peaceful, contented feeling anyone could have. Everything always seemed right with the world on those solitary walks I would take.

I always thought that Arkansas snowfalls were actual miracles in progress. But it doesn't snow much in Arkansas any more. After I moved back to Arkansas from Oklahoma, we had an 18- inch snowfall two weeks after I arrived that closed down everything for a solid week. No school. No work. Practically everyone was homebound because they don't have the equipment down there to get the roads cleaned off. After the snow finally melted, I only experienced two other snowfalls in the four years I was there and they were both puny little snows.

Snow in Nebraska is different. Because the humidity is lower, the snow is drier and, as it falls, it is usually whipped into drifts by the ever-present winds that seem to always blow during a Nebraska winter. It's not unusual to see clear patches of ground next to feet-deep drifts in Nebraska after a typical Nebraska snowstorm. And that appears to be what we're in store for this weekend. The National Weather Service is predicting four inches of snow from this storm but a private weather service I subscribe to is forecasting 1.6 inches today (Saturday), 4 inches tonight, and another 1.6 inches tomorrow for a total accumulation of 7.2 inches. I've talked to many native Nebraskans who say that 7 inches of snow twenty or thirty years ago wouldn't have been much of a snow. They remember the days when it would snow in late October and snow would be on the ground continuously until Spring, because of repeated snow storms and steadily cold temperatures. 7 inches of snow sounds like a pretty good snow using today's standards.

One thing I didn't realize as I was enjoying the snow in the days of my youth was how dependent certain segments of our economy are on predictable and consistent moisture. It has been so dry for so long that I'm sure the farmers in the region are hoping for a big snow with a high moisture content that will hopefully melt slowly so the dry, parched earth can take a good, long healthy drink in order to renew itself.

I hope it stays for a while as well, albeit for different reasons. I love snow because it connects me with my youth when everything seemed somehow better than it does today. It reconnects me to that childhood wonder I experienced when I saw those magical, beautiful flakes falling from the sky. To this day, a beautiful snowfall allows me to see this complicated world we inhabit in terms of possibilities rather than limitations. It gives me hope for the future.

So, as the snow falls this weekend, I hope you will get back in touch with your inner-child and appreciate one of the true miracles of life. It will most likely cause a few minor inconveniences and difficulties but a significant snow seems to always give more than it takes.

It replenishes our land and, if given the chance, it can replenish our lives as well.