Too-late Snow Day

You've heard (or read) me whine about the fact that the Denver area has had very little snow this winter. We've had too much wind, some good golfing days, and some sit-on-the-deck-in-the-sun days, but very little snow. Two weeks ago, we were supposed to get a giant snowstorm. The forecast even provoked a couple of high schools to postpone proms that were supposed to take place the next day (imagine the limo deposit losses, prepaid flowers and tuxes). Well, the weather was cold and a tiny bit snowy, but the big snow missed us by 25 miles.

Yesterday and today, the weather forecasters were at it again. Big snow ... 10 to 20 inches in the Denver area. So we woke up this morning to not much of anything. It rained all night. It snowed a little throughtout the day, but most of it melted or was washed away by rain. None of it stuck to the roads and sidewalks. At 2:10 this afternoon (about an hour before school lets out), it started snowing. Really snowing. Giant flakes fell, making an extra-fluffy layer of very wet snow on the sidewalks and streets. I think it's snowing at a rate of about two inches an hour (no, I'm not exaggerating).

This was my view (the cell phone camera version) on the drive home, once I was off of the busy street that had bumper-to-bumper traffic and cars trying to get going again after stopping on a hill.



This is what it was like by the grocery store and Blockbuster (a girl has to have movies and tonic water for the weekend, after all).

It took me three tries to get out of my afternoon school's neighborhood. It's in a lower area, so all roads out are uphill. Two roads were completely blocked by school buses and cars that couldn't quite negotiate the stop-and-go traffic along with the hills. I cut over to a smaller neighborhood street and could get a run at an uphill street (a Camry requires a little run-up room). Thank goodness I used to live in that area, so I know the streets and shortcuts.

I'm not whining. Really. I'm thrilled to see much-needed moisture soak the dusty eastern part of our state. This snow is the perfect snowball and snowman snow. It'll be several inches of snowball fight waiting to happen. (All I need is a victim. The man I hang around with would kick my ass in a snowball fight.) I just have a couple of questions. Did so many inches have to arrive quite this rapidly? Couldn't it have arrived on Thursday instead of Friday? Do you have any idea how great it is to have a Friday snow day?

So there you have my Friday spring snow adventure. The number is 5. If you've been reading and paying attention, you know what I'm talking about. The last day of school draws near. Happy weekend ... make some fun.