My friends from Hawaii are always getting email like this story about a blizzard. Finally one friend gave up and demanded to know what the difference was between the different terms for snowfall. This was my answer: flurry: light sprinkle of snow, usually accompanied by a mild breeze. Leaves the ground looking like it's been powdered with sugar. snow fall: heavier snow than a flurry, usually little or no winds, and you can see through it. Leaves a solid blanket of snow. snow storm: accompanied by high winds of varying speeds. About the same amount of snow as a snow fall. But it leaves drifts that can be very deep. blizzard: often accompanied by high winds with gusts sometimes of hurricane strength. Complete white-out because the snow falls so thick you can't see your own nose. Best to keep moving or it will build an igloo around you where you stand.
One of the Aleut elders said he hadn't seen a winter like this one in forty years. We got more snow! There was a blizzard yesterday that shut everything down. It was that wet kind of snow that's not quite mushy. I was going to go clean a house on the Dutch Harbor side, but when I left my house I realized I couldn't see Dutch Harbor or even the bridge through all the snow. Instead I turned around and went over to Carl's, since I could take the back roads that were sheltered to get there. I picked up groceries and movies and stopped at the library on the way home. Our librarian said the city was closing everything at 2 or 2:30 pm, and that if I wanted a ride, to wait around for her. I said okay, but mostly because I was worried about her being able to get out of the parking lot. I was more than willing to hang around and shovel snow, or push her vehicle to help get her moving. The librarian was worried about a coworker who was supposed to come in at two o'clock, but the librarian couldn't find her to tell her to stay home. After she called all over town, I suggested that she call the public works department, who already had the snow plows out, and tell them where the other lady lived and what her car looked like. They could keep an eye out and render assistance if necessary. As it turned out, that is exactly what happened. She got stuck on General's Hill, and the snow plow rescued her. She called just before we left the library to go home. She also told us the snow plow driver mentioned we had asked him to look for her. The librarian's vehicle had no problem getting out of the parking lot, but she nearly got blown away by the wind while trying to get to it. I grabbed her and got her up onto the sidewalk between the buildings, where she said she was okay. But I walked in front of her, breaking the wind and snow for her. I am about six inches taller and 100 lbs heavier than her. The winds that were throwing her around weren't strong enough to bother me. I made sure that she would call me when she got home before jumping out of her truck at my house. I told her about the trick I had learned for seeing in a blizzard. If one watches the side of the road, the line of sight is sideways through the snow, instead of into it. Because of this a person can see where they are going in conditions that would normally render them blind. Inside my house I settled down for a quiet night with the cats. Snow would collect on the windows on the windward side of the house and then fall off in big, soft platters. Occasionally snow would collapse off of the eaves with a big thump. The blizzard died in the middle of the night and was followed by a chinook wind. It was so strange to see water running down the road from the melting snow. I left the door open to air out the house a little, it felt like spring outside. I was going to clean City Hall, which is just around the corner from my house, when I heard the sound of tires spinning on ice in front of the clinic. I couldn't see who was stuck, because of the huge piles of snow left between the parking lot and the road. But I went into the parking lot through the entrance to see if I could render assistance to whoever it was. There was Twan in her taxi, with two guys trying to get her started. There was only six inches of snow that had fallen after the plows had been through, but it was slush ball snow, and it packed up tight and formed a rut the taxi couldn't get out of. "Do you need some help pushing?" I yelled at the guys behind the cab. Oscar poked his head out from behind the cab and flashed me a big grin. "There's that big woman," he told the other guy, "watch, she'll get us out!" Last month I had rescued Oscar and Lee from getting hernias while trying to push a friend's truck out of a rut in front of her house. Now it seemed I would have to rescue Oscar again. We got Twan's taxi moving forward, but she didn't get far before she got stuck again. I looked at the snow level behind the vehicle, and it got thinner as it got close to the building. I told Twan to back up and to keep her tires straight. She didn't listen and curved around as we pushed her, but she was far enough into the shallow snow that we would still be able to get her going. I told Twan that once she started moving she shouldn't stop until she got to the entrance, the ground was clear over there. She nodded and we pushed her until she was moving fast enough to not get bogged down. Oscar looked at me like I was a hero. His friend looked annoyed that a woman had to rescue them. I told Twan to take her taxi to the shop and have the mechanic put some chains on the tires. It would be too easy for her to get stuck again without them. There wasn't much to cleaning City Hall. One bag of trash for the whole building. My guess is that no one did much work because they had all been wondering if they would make it home before the storm got really bad. I was feeling a little cranky about all the ridiculously bad weather we have had, but then I realized that I had become spoiled by what was usually mild weather on our island. It occurred to me that if I relaxed and started living by nature's time clock, instead of expecting God to consult with me before deciding what the weather was going to be each day, that I would be a happier person. Snow, so much snow! It's piled ten feet high everywhere you go today. In my yard, if I were to dig a hole to the dirt, I could stand in the drift in my yard and see snow six inches over my head. I've never seen a winter like this! Not even the worst winters on this island have had this much snow. I was feeling snow deprivation two winters ago and wishing for snow. Now my snowballs are running me over and burying me in an avalanche. Be careful what you wish for, or have the wisdom to know how to enjoy it when you get it. Anybody feel like having a snow cone?
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