First Winter Storm of 2010/11

Much of the city was shut down yesterday as we received our first winter storm. As a native of the area, it always seems strange to me that the media weather advisers go into such a tizzy. It's snow. We get it every year. Six or seven inches of it is just not that big of a deal here. Yet apparently it is to those who fear easily (and boy, have we had fear shoveled at us non-stop since 9/11). To those who opt out of hunkering down and choose instead to go about life, the results of the fear-mongering are both pleasant and irritating.



Those who did more yesterday than shovel found a city wrapped in beauty. Trees were coated with icy snow; statues had one side blanketed in white; rosy-cheeked people were smiling and thoroughly enjoying being out (except those too ignorant to wear a hat and gloves). There were no lines anywhere I went. Of course, hardly anything was open, which was the irritating part. My plan for the day included visiting the downtown public library to return a video and find some new reading material for the week. It was closed. Strangely, every coffee shop, bar, and candy store was open and had customers coming in.



So in lieu of a book, I got a cookie. After the class that got me out of the house, I wandered around the Capitol grounds and area and took photos. At noon everything was pretty nice. By 3:30 the temperature was dropping, the strong breeze became a sustained high wind, and my face wished for a scarf. It was not enough to send me scurrying indoors, but it portended a colder night and next day. I am correct: As I type this at 9:00 AM, the temperature is 1 (F) on its way to a high for the day of 5.

If you missed yesterday and want to see the beautiful but not-terribly-severe results of yesterday's storm, there is a small set in a slide-show HERE.