The Blizzard of 2010, enjoyed from far, far away

I just spent a lovely half an hour swiping snow photos off the Internet for my personal viewing pleasure. Growing up in the Mid-Atlantic Region, I experienced several beautiful blizzards as child, but not so many that I took them for granted.

News and weather professionals measure snow accumulation in inches but for a children there are basic levels of snow:

Enough to turn the ground white.
Enough to throw snowballs.
Enough to build mounds of snow and then dig tunnels in them.

For adults, especially in areas like Baltimore-Washington where blizzards aren’t quite frequent enough for either homeowners or officials to be altogether prepared for them, you can measure snowfall by another set of basic levels:

Enough to turn the ground white.
Enough to stay home from work.
Enough to wish you had gone to the supermarket the previous day.

Washington, D.C., doesn’t get enough snowstorms for local governments to feel justified in building giant mountains of rock salt and road treatment chemicals, so they sometimes run low if there are a lot of blizzards in one winter.

Driving is hazardous because you may be driving a vehicle with excellent tires but the guy in front of you isn’t. Many traffic accidents in the Mid-Atlantic are caused by people driving big SUVs with perfect tires who forget that other people on the road can’t move the way they can.

If the snow gets really heavy, as it has in the current instance, the weight of snow and ice can snap power lines. Cocooning is fun as long as the heat is working, but smart residents of temperate zones have a fireplace and firewood, too, just in case.

I love snow, but at 56 it is fair to say I like it best when viewed on my computer from my condo in Waikiki.