I’ve never seen that before…
… snow falling from a mostly clear, bright blue sky.
Emma asked to go out a while back, maybe half an hour. It was snowing and the ground was pretty well whitened with a comprehensive but thin layer of snow. She didn’t particularly want to stay out but she needed to eat her breakfast (okay, I got up a little late today) and also the cats get an early treat.
Emma’s in fact really good about keeping away from what’s not hers, amazingly even food, until given explicit permission. But I don’t want to torment the girl, nor have her presence make the cats nervous. They like her and trust her not to act hostile, but not to get rambunctious and, you know, accidentally squash them.
Anyway I got everything taken care of and went out to bring Emma in and let her finish eating inside where she wasn’t at risk from moisture falling on her from the sky. I noticed that little bitty flakes of snow still fell enthusiastically. I also noticed the back yard looked pretty bright.
I stepped off the porch and looked up. There remained some pretty dense, stormy-looking clouds roundabout, but overhead was a huge swatch of brilliant blue, with just a kind of thin horsetail sweeping across one side of it. But what was amazing was looking up and up through millions of falling flakes into the bright sky.
It really took me by surprise. I’m not unused to sun showers; heck, here in NM, especially with the spring winds, we can get dust storms in the midst of rain storms when, yes, the sun is shining: mud sun showers. Seriously.
But a snow sun shower? That’s a new one on me.
It was really pretty. It did look a bit like one of those mock snowfalls, where fine powder blows off tall roofs or tree branches. But there’s nothing particularly tall around here. No big trees in the neighbor’s yard, or indeed the next; and it’s pretty much one story from here north to city’s end. Anyway, in spite of coming down at a notably steep angle, this snow was clearly not bing blown off anything (not enough wind; that’s another thing.) It was falling.
When I stepped out again about two minutes later I thought the snow had stopped. Then I noticed a few flakes dusting down and stepped off the porch again. I could still see falling flakes stacked way up the sky.
Now (10-15 minutes later) I’m guessing the snow’s stopped. I’m sitting on the sofa facing the front wall; through the translucent window liner thingies (writes Mr. Professional Writer Guy Who Always Knows the Right Word) the light’s dimmed, indicating it’s clouded back over.
I hope the streets don’t get too icy. ASFS is holding a Dessert Bake-Off for its December meeting tonight, and somehow I was conscripted into entering my Red Chile Pumpkin Soup, even though it’s not dessert. We shall see.
And indeed do many things come to pass.
December 14th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
Had some weird snow out here (in Bernalillo), too — in fact, it forced me to make an emergency trip to the Walgreens down the street for some supplies, and once I got there I realized I had forgotten my wallet. The car nearly slid off the road on my way home, so I decided I didn’t need that stuff so badly after all. Within an hour, the snow had stopped and the roads were clear, so I ventured out again. There was a big ol’ truck off in the bushes on the side of the road and another attempting to pull it out.
In any case, I’m missing ASFS tonight, dang it. Be careful going there/coming home.
December 15th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
Yow! Glad you avoided mishap.
We lucked out down here in Burque. The snow didn’t stick, although it continued to trickle down from time to time.
Patricia made the meeting. I didn’t realize how risky her trip had been…
The meeting was fun. The movie was surreal, and surreally awful.