Snow!

Disclaimer: I love the snow. It's beautiful and wonderful. So I'm going to be enthusiastic about snow in this post, and try to get you to be excited about it too, or at least mitigate your dislike.

It started Sunday at church, during Primary. One of the leaders told the kids it was snowing. So of course, we when got to our classroom, we had to open the window and look at the snow. The kids got a little excited, and then we continued with snack time and the lesson. I smiled and kept my voice calm, but it was a front.

Inside, I was jumping up and down and repeating in a sing-songy, rather loud way: "It's snowing! It's snowing!!!" The aforementioned snow continued all day, with bursts of bigger, more intense flurries. That night, the total accumulation topped out at 7 inches.

On the USU campus. Taken by yours truly.

Hooray!!!! Now, I know, I know, shoveling snow is a pain, and driving in the snow, especially with beginners (read that as idiots) out there on the road with you, can be dangerous. But snow is such a good thing!

I had a friend ask me why I liked the snow so much, and I said "just because" basically. His response was "Water is water, why can't it just rain instead?"

I started wondering about that, and not just because the rain is depressing to me when it last multiple days in a row. So I asked my dad, my house's general science knowledge guru, and he provided this explanation (I'm paraphrasing from memory here):

"Even though it takes several inches of snow to make one inch of water, think about what would happen if it rained as much water as it snowed today." I thought about it--"We'd probably have a flood." He nods. "Not probably; we would. And it would wash away everything; this is a desert--not built to handle that much water at a time. Now think about the snow in the mountains. Why is the snowpack up there important?"

"The skiers like it? No, ok, seriously, it's because in the summer it melts and gives us water." I replied.

"Right. And it gives it to us slowly, again preventing flooding. The snow stays in the valleys and shaded spots and doesn't melt. If we got all this water as rain, we'd need reservoirs or something to catch and hold all that water." Dad added.

"So, especially in a desert, snow is a better option than rain for bringing water." I summed up, happy to have proof that my snow is a wonderful thing.

The Logan mountains, from USU

The Wellsville mountains, being awesome water collectors.

The mountains to the north end of Cache Valley.

So there's your scientifical reason that snow is awesome. And now for my artsy reason: snow if beautiful! And I'm going to prove it. I had some time to spare before my class yesterday, so I pulled out my camera. I don't claim to be a professional photographer, or even a good one, but I think these turned out well, mostly thanks to the snow:

Aren't the trees prettier with snow on them?

Snow pile from clearing the walks.
 It's probably as tall as I am (which, while, short for a human, is pretty tall).

I like the contrast the leaves on the left create.

I love the berries in the snow.
Also, one of my favorite photos from my excursion.

Again, a splash of color makes the snow just beautiful.

I'm quite pleased with this one.

Looking straight up at the tree.

Another favorite. I did pretty good with getting the focus right, I think.

Christmas! In January.

I want to sit on that big branch and throw snowballs at oblivious students.

 And one more, just because I can. I took this from the parking garage (Aggie Terrace, for my USU friends), along with most of the mountain pictures. The lighting was fantastic on the mountains, I must say.

Must have one photo of the temple.

And, just to make me happy for the rest of the week, God is sending another storm tomorrow!

(And no, it has nothing to do with the snow pack or the water shed--well, ok, maybe a little--God looks out for the farmers too.)