Alas, Longwood has seen her first snow of the semester. And might I add that it's about time? I'm sure I'm not alone when I say I was beginning to think the snow had decided to pass us by this winter. Why? Because the weather has just been too odd lately.
Friday, it was beautiful. Saturday, the same. Highs in the 60s both days. What happened on Sunday, though? It snowed four inches; that's what happened. It was as if we switched our weather with that of another state's for the day.
You might be thinking about a little political phrase or a Spanish boy to describe this weather phenomenon. I am not going to go into the whole global warming tangent because I'm sure you probably don't care, and I feel like I've already ticked enough people off about that in the past. In addition, I will not offend any of mi amigos either. So for now, I'll just go on about how unsurprised (yes, I said unsurprised) I am that it snowed.
I'm no weatherman. I did not see it coming. I simply didn't forget what season we are in. When I last checked, winter lasts from December until March. I think sometimes we tend to forget that because we are caught up in "Decemberitis"— the term I use for thinking all cold temperature and frozen precipitation is destined to fall only from Dec. 1 through Dec. 31.
The sad reality is it does not always happen like that. Sometimes we get the snow before and sometimes we get it after December. For instance, we did not have a white Christmas. However, many areas did see a coating of snow on New Year's night. How dare that happen outside of the December period.
Folks, our snow is not a matter of season; it's a matter of history.
Historically, Virginia has not always been a big December snow getter. I think it is such a false idea that people hold. You know … December's here so it somehow absolutely has to snow or something is wrong with the world.
How is that fair? Does this mean on June 1, when Hurricane season rolls around, we have to brace ourselves for a direct hit? Or how about in September when fall comes to town? I guess all the trees have to lose their leaves in one day, right?
No.
Weather will do what it wants to do when it wants to do it in the fashion it wants to do it in. This season, I found it fascinating how so many people had bypassed winter just because we hadn't seen an impressive snowfall yet. Hellooooo. We're still in February here, people. February is when it gets real. Winter is all ready to go, and things become serious.
That's not to discredit any of the other winter months, though. They all deserve their rightful place in snowfall history. Remember two years ago during Snowmageddon? Some 21 inches fell overnight in my backyard in Southwest Virginia.
But some of the more impressive snows in our history here in Virginia have taken place in the later winter months. For instance, Norfolk, Va. reported 24.4 inches throughout February in 1989. In Arlington County, Va., 10 years earlier, over 30 inches fell throughout the president's month. Even March has seen some historic snows. On March 6, 1962, nearly two feet of the white stuff covered Winchester, Va. On March 13, 1993, in a historic snowfall that covered the state, 20 inches fell in Galax, Va. See, snow late in the season, even creeping into the pre-Spring days, is not that uncommon. Snow does not have a set season; we have seen it fall in April and October.
In fact, this past year, there was a bit of snow in October in Southwest Virginia. Do not be so surprised if you see snowfall when you don't expect it. The next time we have one of these odd win - ters, don't consider it so odd. There is nothing wrong with the weather we are getting. Everyone is happy. Warm weather lovers can be satisfied with the first half of the month while snow lovers get the second half all to themselves.
However, little boys and girls will probably remain upset for awhile due to the fact that the snow came at a very unfortunate time. Monday was a teacher workday for many areas.
