Let's talk about the weather

Just before Christmas, we had snow. Snow snow snow. This picture, which you have seen, is a picture of our first snow. See how pretty it looks? We were all excited.

Then when the little cousins came for Christmas, there was enough snow that we all could go sledding.
That is, we all could go sledding.
And build snowmen.

But then it didn't stop snowing. On Christmas day it was snowing. Here is a picture of Tim on Christmas day. Notice it's a little deeper there.

And then New Year's Eve came and went, and we were doing this,
which isn't actually related to the weather or this post at all, except it fits nicely between Christmas and January 5th-6th, when we had even more SNOW! It took me 2 hours to drive 10 miles that Monday evening. So the next day, still snowing, Jonathan stayed home from school and we shoveled the driveway AGAIN!
And again.
And again.

We have now gone what, over a week? without snow. The roads are melting. The ice is clearing. The five foot tall snow piles have melted down to two feet tall. Driving is not as treacherous. But on the morning news radio? Everyone wants snow.

Turns out that when the snow stops and the wind is still, warm air over the mountains keeps the cold air in the valley from moving up and out. The air gets heavy with valley smog, but can't circulate or move off into the desert. This magical phenomenon is called inversion. What it means is we are suffocating in our own filth.

The snow has turned gray. The sky has turned gray, with a brownish yellow haze off in the distance. And everyone looks hopefully to Thursday, when there is a chance of freezing rain to clear out the gunk. Looking hopefully to freezing rain? What is this horrible place and why have I moved here?

(Last photo courtesy of the Daily Herald, taken Monday, Jan 19, 2009.)