Snow Day

February 7, 2025

It snowed last night.

Where I am, snow is a rare and ephemeral thing. It was mostly gone by noon. I forgot to take any pictures.

The default cultural image I have of winter is a world covered in snow. That’s what nearly all the media I’ve seen has trained me to expect. But as I write this post I am thinking about how many people do not actually experience that. Even in the United States, it depends a lot on the vagaries of geography. There are large regions, that don’t experience much snow.

I think I liked snow better when I didn’t have to get to work through it. It’s easy to like it when you are a kid and it only means that you don’t have to go to school. Of course, now with online learning tools you may not even get that. It’s sad to think of. Which is funny in a way. If you think about the actual goal of school, then any disruption, like a snow day, is a detriment. I can acknowledge that, but I cannot forget the joy I felt at waking up to snow. Losing that also seems like a detriment.

Sometimes I wish we got more snow in my city, although only when we don’t have any. I like the effect it has on the light, the way it muffles sounds—or makes sound, that squeak and crunch of it compressing underfoot. I like it’s softness. I like the shimmer of white flakes falling from a grey sky.