A Once Every Two Decades Event

The first realization that some of the snow falling might stick, and not melt off the minute it hit the ground.

By northern standards, it was a fairly modest event.  A light dusting, a minor nuisance, the kind of early snowfall that could occur briefly in September by October.

By Southeast Georgia standards, it was a snowpocalypse, an unprecedented tsunami of snow and ice that had last occurred in Blackshear on Christmas Day 1989.

It was preceded by several hours of freezing rain, creating a slick layer of true danger.  We didn't think it would turn, even though the forecast said that it would.

But by around 11 AM, the rain began to turn to snow.

This is the front of my house at peak snow.  Yes, it wasn't enough to completely cover the ground, but it was definitely there.  It didn't melt the instant it hit the ground,  It actually stuck and stayed.

And a day later, much of it is still there!

Surprisingly, the small lake (big pond?) near our home did not freeze over.  No need to break out the ice skates, or the ice fishing hut.

Snow to Honda:  I have come to bury you!

Yes, I will wait until it melts off before I go anywhere.

1989 to 2017.  28 years between snowfalls.  Will the next wait for the next snowfall be that long?

I'm betting not. 

Why?  Because of the changing weather patterns caused by global warming.

Yes, because of global warming.  I know that's confusing to my Trumpeteer friends, but it's true,

Usually the rare Arctic blasts we get are composed of dry air, and not accompanied by moisture.  But with global warming, that is changing.  The clouds accumulate more moisture, and rain/snow events, when they happen, drop more moisture, causing floods and blizzards.

Global warming equals climate change equals more extreme weather events.

And we now have an administration whose response to global warming is to not just ignore it, but to accelerate and supercharge it.

Sigh.

Maybe I'll have to break down and buy an ice scrapper.