And Mother Nature is saying winter is definitely not over. Sitting here tonight at our home in Nederland, you’d think it was the middle of February instead of the middle of May. The temperature is 31 degrees, the wood stove is cranking along, heating our log home. Snow is falling outside — that’s right, I said snow is falling outside.
And the forecast is for two solid days of snow with total of 2-3 feet. Yep, you read that right. The atmospheric forces have come together to literally create a perfect winter storm, when the calendar says we are one month out from the start of summer. How could it be?
My husband, the meteorologist would explain to you about arctic air masses diving down from the north, and qg lift, upslope flow and all the science that makes this possible. I just think it’s magic.
While most of my friends that live in other places where it most definitely is not snowing would be horrified by this forecast, I am positively giddy. This is what makes life in the mountains so very interesting and exciting, and tests our mettle.
I love snow, and that love of snow does not have an expiration date on it. I don’t love snow in February, but hate it in May. I love it all the time. Snow falling creates a hush in the forest, a muted beauty. There’s something amazing about going to bed at night, only to wake up in the morning to find the entire world outside blanketed in white.
Plus, it’s cool to live in a place where this can even happen. It makes me feel special — we live in the Colorado Rocky Mountains and it is going to snow a butt ton! Who cares about tulips and flowers blooming — a million towns can post pictures of daffodils and lilacs. But where else can you post snow pictures on May 19? Just a very few places in the country can you do that.
I love posting pictures of snow on social media for all my friends back east, in the midwest, and in the deep south. It’s great to see the comments — the shock, dismay, horror of it all. What a terrible thing to have to deal with when you should be out golfing! Oh my gosh, “you can have that snow – I want nothing to do with it!”
Then there’s the sensible, pragmatic side of me that is loving this snowstorm. Wildfire danger is often at its highest during the month of June, when temperatures get warm, precipitation is low, and things get tinder dry. It’s one of those months you kind of hold your breath and hope that somehow we’ll make it through unscathed to July, when the monsoon rains come in.
But getting a huge, wet snowstorm in late May shortens that high wildfire danger window significantly. It’s infinitely better than a lot of rain, because the snow takes longer to melt, and saturates the soil as it does so. This helps protect ground matter from becoming fuel for fires.
Soooo, snow in late May — I say bring it on! The more, the better! More to be posted during the storm…
Absolutely! I love snow!