You have to love snow days sometimes. They give a lot of
opportunity to reflect on why we live in a state where interstate closures are
not only a possibility but are expected on a regular basis.
It is thoroughly entertaining to get up in the morning and
scrape a quarter inch of determined-to-stick-there ice off of your windshield,
as well as every window and even at least one side of your car so you can prize
the door open. Or, if that last part is too difficult, you can manage to crawl
in the passenger side and shove with all your might to dislodge the door (and
hopefully not hit the car next to yours).
If a lot of snow fell since you last climbed into your car, a lovely, soft white substance might
fall onto your seat from the roof to keep you nice and cool as you drive to
work. It’s a perfectly natural seat cushion, too. And don’t worry — you’ll
never brush off all the little snowflakes. Chances are, enough will stay behind
to melt a bit to make your commute all that much more pleasant.
Sometimes it is cold enough that the defroster on the rear
windshield can’t keep up with the refreezing water droplets, so you have a
lovely set of ice beads on the back window (at least it provides better visibility
than the other option, which is rough, pebbly and white-scraped ice).
Oh, and remember that fluffy cold snow cushion that fell
onto your seat? When it melts, it will inevitably evaporate and then freeze on
the inside of all your windows, so when you finish scraping the outside of you
windows in subzero temperatures, you might be given the delightful the
opportunity to play a bonus round, which includes the chance to use your
ideal-for-convex-surfaces ice scraper for a concave surface. Major bonus points!
(Note: If you don’t care for this sort of fun, you can be a
spoilsport by parking in a garage or cracking the windows open overnight to let
the evaporated moisture escape.)
Of course, another possibility is if you don’t shovel off
the roof of your car, the jet stream will cause the snow on the roof to play
hide-and-seek on the back window, except that clearly it forgot you can see it
if it hides there. Or maybe it’s just playing at hiding all the cars behind
you.
Just after last week’s 24-hour snow flurry, I was pleasantly
surprised to find my normal parking spot completely covered by 4-5 feet of snow
that had been plowed off the parking lot. I’d estimate that was a minimum of
12’x48’ of pavement covered by about 4 feet of at least somewhat compacted snow.
So approximately 2,500 cubic feet.
Then there are the 3-foot and even 4-foot drifts every so
often, which beautifully balance out the windswept areas. Some of those drifts,
though, like to make their way to the road on occasion. It’s like mud-bogging
in the middle of winter!
At times, you look out the window and wonder which way the
wind is ACTUALLY blowing, because one minute the snow is falling straight down
and the next it’s flying at a 45-degree
angle (or, if you’re really lucky, almost completely perpendicular to the
road). The direction is prone to change, too. At you, to the left, to the
right, blowing you forward — it’s all just one grand adventure.
One of my favorite parts of winter is when it is <1
degree outside, so when I walk outside for a few minutes, I can feel my nose
trying to retreat into my face, or shrivel into an adorable little purple baby
pickle — and are those my tear ducts freezing? It’s a gentle reminder that, if
I stay outside for too long without proper clothing, who knows how much longer
my life might go on?
And you don’t have to worry about seeing your breath; the
playful Wyoming breeze will helpfully rip the mist away to keep your line of
sight clear. Of course, you can choose between the slight chill of a 10-20-mph
zephyr in freezing temperatures that bites and numbs your mouth, nose, chin,
ears and eyes — or you can choose to forgo your ability to see by wearing a
scarf that lets your breath fog up your
glasses. (Of course, the fog is inevitable; if you go inside, you lose your
vision, too; you just get to pick “more” or “less.”)
Last Thursday, I briefly opted for the scarf that fogged up
my glasses — only to find that my glasses were getting more than fog. They were
getting a thin rime of frost around the edges as well.
The best part about winter is driving in it, though. Not
that it isn’t fun to shovel behind each of my tires in the cheerful hope that I
will be able to get enough traction to get out of the parking lot. But the very
best part is driving at 5-10 mph yet enjoying the process of inexorably sliding
toward a stop sign while the antilock braking system goes into overdrive and I
gently (or maybe more than gently) pump the brakes.
It is also fascinating to look at the road conditions for
the state of Wyoming. As I write, there are 11 seasonal road closures, two
chain law level 1 restrictions, 22 black ice advisories, one black ice advisory
with no trailer traffic allowed, two “no unnecessary travel” designations, 11
falling rock advisories and one road closure due to winter conditions. Each one
of those 44 advisories, closures or restrictions represents a different stretch
of road in the state.
And all this is absolutely nothing in comparison with the
delightful weather stretching across some parts of other northern states as
well. What was it — record-breaking low temperatures for some parts of Wyoming?
The 40-degree heat wave forecast for the past couple of day or so is
practically bikini weather. Just throw on your swimsuit and leap into the
melting slush; it’s the Wyoming equivalent of an outdoor pool!
One thing is for sure: the best part of every winter is the
January stretch of winter, which reminds us all just how wonderful the snow,
ice and subzero temperatures are.
I’m positively dreading June’s light snow showers!
No comments:
Post a Comment